We Have to Keep Believing
by EstellaDoreaBlack
Summary: Estella Black has her relatively stable world pulled out from under her all at once when she becomes a prisoner of Azkaban escapee Lucius Malfoy. Chaos ensues in the outside world. Meanwhile, Estella tries desperately to cling to the little hope she has.
1. Prologue: Just Like Aida

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

**This fic is rated T for rape. If you don't like it, don't read it.**

This story is AU-ish in the ways I explain on my author page.

And now, on to the story!

_**Prologue: Just Like Aida  
**_

"Miss? Could I speak to you for just a moment please?"

Fifteen-year-old Estella Black turned her head to see the unfamiliar woman behind her. "Go ahead."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to make this a private conversation."

"All right." The girl pulled open the door of an unused classroom and stepped inside.

The woman waited a long moment after they had both entered and her companion had closed the door behind them. "I - I've been trying to find you for the longest time."

"Who are you? What do you want with me?"

"My name is Leanne. Leanne Palmer. I'm your mother."

"No."

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"You're not my mother."

The woman took a deep breath. "I suppose this is hardly your fault. You must have been taken in by some family who decided it was in your best interest to hide the truth from you."

"You mean the fact that I was adopted? I know that, and I know that there's a reasonable chance you gave birth to me, but that does _not_ make you my mother. You abandoned me on the doorstep of St. Mungo's, I almost froze to death before I was found. A mother doesn't do that."

"You have to understand the circumstances. I wasn't ready then, but now - "

"Is that what you think I am? A plaything? Something you can set aside when you don't want it, and then pick back up when you're ready? Well, I'm sorry, but I refuse to be manipulated in such a way. I'm happy where I am."

"Listen, winter holidays start in a week's time. I'll take you home until then, so you can get adjusted before the holiday starts -"

"I said no. I'm not interested in anything you have to offer me. I'm not going to leave the family that's taken care of me to stay with a mother who valued me so little that she left me on a doorstep in temperatures well below freezing without even a decent blanket."

"I wasn't asking your opinion," Leanne retorted sharply. "You will come with me."

"No. Absolutely not. I believe this discussion is over."

Estella turned and strode towards the door, clearly intending to leave the room and end the conversation. Unfortunately, she had underestimated the woman she was attempting to leave behind. As soon as the girl's back was turned, Leanne drew her wand and fired off a nonverbal Stunning Spell, striking her prey directly between the shoulderblades. Unable to react in time, Estella crumpled, unconscious, to the classroom floor.

xxxxxxxxxx

"She was stubborn, but I got her in the end."

These were the first words Estella registered as the blackness began to lift. Dimly, she identified the voice as Leanne Palmer's. Was Leanne talking about her?

"Well done, my darling." This voice was entirely unfamiliar.

Estella slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she registered was that she was most certainly not at Hogwarts. She was lying on a black marble floor in a dark room. Leanne was standing nearby, talking to a man with long white-blond hair. A man that Estella recognized, though she had never met him before. His picture had been in the _Daily Prophet_, he was a criminal who had escaped Azkaban. She remembered her father going pale, dropping the paper where she could clearly see it. And she remembered the name. _Lucius Malfoy_.

"She's awake." Leanne had noticed that her captive was coming to.

"Good." Malfoy knelt beside the girl, running his hand lightly over her face. "What's your name?"

Estella couldn't explain the feeling that came over her, but somehow she knew, just knew, that she couldn't tell him her real name. A false name was impractical; if she failed to answer to it, Malfoy would know she had lied. She came up with the only compromise she could think of.

"Ellie," she answered. "My name is Ellie."

It was a name she was used to answering to, but it wasn't a name with the same associations as her full name. The name Black would be easily recognized, and there was a chance Malfoy would be able to trace the name Estella back to her family; it wasn't that common.

The other two seemed satisfied. "Look at me, Ellie," he commanded, and she obeyed instinctively. "I began spending time with Leanne when my wife would not give me what I wanted. I would have married her the moment I could have safely done away with my weak, sniveling wife. But then a little brat got lucky and defeated my master, and I had to keep a low profile. I could only see Leanne in secret. And then my master rose again, and again I dreamed of a better future. When Leanne told me she was carrying our child, I couldn't have been happier. My first son had inherited too many of my wife's traits, he was unfit to be my heir. But then the brat got lucky again. My master died, and I was sent to Azkaban. My wife divorced me. But my dear Leanne remained faithful. She had to temporarily leave you, people would have asked questions, and she married so that no one would know of her loyalty. Just this summer, she made her move. She killed her husband and got me free, and then she found our child and brought you to me so I can make you my princess, like you should have been all those years ago."

"I don't want to be your princess. You served Voldemort. You disgust me. I have a father who cares. I don't need you."

"All you have to do is behave, and I'll give you anything you want. But if you're a bad girl, I'll have to punish you. For now, I'll start by putting you with the other girls, the Mudbloods. You're better than them, Ellie, don't think I don't know that, but you need to see what you could be, and then you'll appreciate what I'm offering you."

"Never," she said defiantly. "I'll never take what you offer."

"Guard!" A man rushed into the room on Malfoy's command. "Put her with the others."

"As you command, lord."

Estella was shoved into a dark, windowless cell. About fifteen girls, many of them apparently below Hogwarts age, already sat inside.

"Are you new?" one asked quietly.

"Yes," she answered.

"Your family must have turned down the school. You can't be younger than eleven," stated another.

"Turned down - you mean Hogwarts?"

"Every one of us," yet another girl explained, indicating her companions, "is a magical person from a non-magical family, except for Marissa," she indicated one girl who was about five or six, "and her family is outcast. The few here who are over eleven are students who didn't go to the school, like me. My family's Catholic, we don't believe in witchcraft."

"Mine either," said another, and there were murmurs of assent from all of the older girls.

"I do go to Hogwarts," Estella explained. "I was taken from there."

"Well you don't anymore," pointed out someone. "Once we're in here, we'll never get out. Lord Malfoy said as much."

"We'll get out," Estella countered firmly. "Just because Malfoy doesn't plan it that way doesn't mean it won't happen. We have to believe it will happen. It's just like Aida."

"Like what?" asked one of the younger girls.

"Aida. It's a story about a group of people in captivity, just like us."

"Can you tell it to us?"

Estella's first instinct was to say no; who would want to tell a story in such a place? But on second thought, a story might help to drive away the despair that seemed to hang over the girls.

"All right," she said finally. "This is the story of Aida."

**This is my first fic. Please review. Pleeeeease.**


	2. Chapter One: The More We Come to Learn

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter One: The More We Come to Learn  
**_

_The story begins in a museum, specifically the Egyptian wing of a museum. It was an interesting wing. It contained many artifacts, but the most prominent of these were in a particular room; a huge tomb in the center and a statue of a female pharaoh, Amneris._

_Now, this museum had been around for quite a few years, and nothing had ever really happened in it. But one day, things changed._

_This day began like any other. The museum opened right on schedule, and people came in just like they always did. Among these people were a man and a woman. Both of them had been to the museum before, but on this day they had felt strangely compelled to come, and specifically to explore the Egyptian wing. It was while they were both in the wing, in the room with the tomb and the statue, that the day took a very unusual turn. The statue of Amneris seemed to come alive, beginning to move and speak, to tell a story from her own time.  
_

_"Every story, tale or memoir  
Every saga or romance  
Whether true or fabricated  
Whether planned or happenstance  
Whether sweeping through the ages  
Casting centuries aside  
Or a hurried brief recital  
Just a thirty-minute ride  
Whether bright or melancholy  
Rough and ready, finely spun  
Whether with a thousand players  
Or a lonely cast of one  
Every story, new or ancient  
Bagatelle or work of art  
All are tales of human failing  
All are tales of love at heart  
This is the story  
Of a love that flourished  
In a time of hate  
Of lovers no tyranny could separate  
Love set into motion on the Nile's shore  
Destiny ignited by an act of war  
Egypt saw the mighty river as its very heart and soul  
Source of life for all her people  
That only Egypt could control  
Destruction of her southern neighbor justified  
Nubia exploited, left with little more than pride"_

The girls stared at Estella in amazement. As impossible as it seemed, her singing had driven away a little of the despair that had been hanging over them. And her story had intrigued them. For a few moments, they could almost forget about the awful situation they were in.

_Amneris' story took them back to her time, to Nubia, the country just south of Egypt. Egypt and Nubia had been locked in a war for generations, with each country trying to take over the other. It was a war that had been handed down from father to son, as it were, through the monarchy. The current kings - Pharaoh of Egypt and Amonasro of Nubia - had picked up with the war right where their fathers had left off. Pharaoh's best captain was named Radames. On the day that would set in motion events that would change his life forever, Radames and his men were homeward bound after one of their frequent expeditions._

_"__Oh, oh  
Fortune Favors the Brave  
Oh, oh  
Fortune Favors the Brave  
We have swept to glory,  
Egypt's mastery expands  
From the Nile's northern most delta  
To the dry, dry southern sands  
The more we find, the more we see,  
The more we come to learn  
The more that we explore,  
The more we shall return  
Oh, oh  
Fortune favors the brave  
It's all worked out, my road is clear  
The lines of latitude extend  
Way beyond my wildest dreams  
Toward some great triumphant end  
We seized the day  
We turned the tide  
We touched the stars  
We mocked the grave  
We moved into uncharted lands  
Fortune favors the brave  
The more we find, the more we see  
The more we come to learn  
The more that we explore  
The more we shall return  
Nothing is an accident  
We are free to have it all  
We are what we want to be  
It's in ourselves to rise or fall  
This is easy to believe  
When distant places call to me  
It's harder from the palace yard  
Fortune favors the free  
Fortune favors the young  
Fortune favors the brave!"_

"Who was singing?" asked one of the girls.

"Radames and the men," Estella answered. "Mostly Radames."

"Go on," a few of the others urged. "Please."

"No," Estella said after a moment's thought. "If I do, we'll finish much too fast. I'll tell a little bit each day, and that way it can last hopefully until we're rescued. If we aren't finished by the time we're rescued, I'll tell you the rest then."

The girls nodded slowly. They did want to hear the rest, but they saw the wisdom of Estella's plan.

"What's your name?" asked one.

"Ellie." It wasn't that Estella didn't trust the other girls, but she had no way of knowing if Malfoy had ways to spy on them, and she didn't dare take that chance.

"I'm Hannah," said one of the older girls. "And this," she gestured to the girl next to her, "is Rose."

"I'm Julie," said another of the older girls.

"And I'm Lauren," finished the last of the older girls.

"And the little ones?"

"I'm Jean," said one.

"Isabelle, or Bella if you want."

"Margaret."

"Susan."

"Angela."

"Carrie."

"Sophie."

"Lucy."

"Kaitlin."

"Marissa." This last was barely a whisper, from a little black-haired girl huddled in the corner. Estella remembered Julie saying Marissa's family was outcast, and she assumed the girl had self-esteem problems.

"Estella?" Rose asked. "Can you tell us about Hogwarts?"

"What about it?" Estella seemed surprised.

"Well, Hannah and I were both accepted, but our parents wouldn't let us go. We met at St. Mary's - that's a Catholic boarding school. We're both kind of outcasts because of the weird stuff we do sometimes, when we're upset or something."

"Accidental magic," Estella murmured.

"We sort of figured it was magic or something after we found out we both got into Hogwarts. But we talk a lot. And a lot of what we talk about is Hogwarts, about what it would've been like if we had gone there. Most of the time, I wish my parents had let me go."

"Me too," added Hannah. "And most of the younger girls will be going there. So, what's it like?"

"Hogwarts is in a huge castle in Scotland. The students are sorted by a magical hat into four Houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin."

"How does the hat pick which House to put you in?" asked Isabelle.

"Each House has it's own characteristics. Gryffindors are generally brave, Ravenclaws are smart, Hufflepuffs are kind and hardworking, and Slytherins are cunning and determined. That's not to say that a person in one House can't have characteristics of another house, but it means that the characteristics of the chosen house trump all the others. Take me, for example. My dad always said I could've been in any House, but the Hat decided that my Hufflepuff characteristics were just a little stronger than the others."

"What do you do at the school?" asked Julie a little sharply. "I mean, do you just go around casting spells on people? Chanting around a cauldron?"

"Merlin, no! Magic's not half that simple. Everyone takes classes in Charms, Astronomy, Transfiguration - that means changing one thing into another - Herbology, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions. In addition, third-years and above have to choose two or more electives..."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Where's Estella? I need help with my Potions homework!"

"I'm sure she'll be here soon," Teddy Lupin reassured the third-year Ravenclaw, but secretly he was worried. It wasn't like her to be late for their study group.

The group had actually been Estella's idea. After she had been sorted into a different House from her two best friends - Victorie Weasley and Teddy - she had come up with the concept of creating an inter-house study group, in which they could help each other in lessons that were giving them trouble. At first it had just been the three of them and a few friends, but it had grown until, on any given night, one could expect to find at least thirty people of varying grade levels in the otherwise unused classroom. Everyone didn't come every night; the only real constants were Estella, Teddy, and Victorie.

The third-year's remark was a reference to Estella's exceptional mastery of Potions. Within the first few weeks of her first year, she had been able to help second- and third- year students who were struggling in the subject. Estella knew how important her knowledge was to the group and the group meant a lot to her. And she was now almost twenty minutes late.

"I didn't see her at dinner," chimed in a first-year Hufflepuff. "Are you sure she's coming?"

"And she wasn't in Arithmancy either," added a fourth-year Gryffindor.

"She wasn't in class?" Now Teddy was worried.

"She was probably skiving off," suggested someone else.

"Not Ellie," Victorie contradicted, mirroring Teddy's thoughts. "She's never skipped class. Ever."

"Do you want me to get a teacher?" asked a Ravenclaw first-year quietly.

"I think you'd better," Teddy said shakily. "Just tell him or her to come up here. I'll explain the situation."

"Teddy? What do you think happened?"

Teddy looked down to see Teresa Palmer, a first-year Slytherin, staring at him with wide eyes. He knew her well. Teresa's father had died just before the start of the school year, and Teddy, who had lost both his parents as an infant, had taken it upon himself to comfort and mentor her.

"I don't know," he answered finally, "and that's what scares me."

"What seems to be the problem here?" The door swung open as the Ravenclaw boy returned, followed by Severus Snape, Potions professor, deputy headmaster, and head of Slytherin House. "This group has never needed much assistance before. Where is the eldest Miss Black?"

"That's what we needed you for, sir," Teddy said quietly. "She isn't here, she wasn't at dinner, and she wasn't in Arithmancy - and you know she never misses class without an excuse. We don't know what's happened. I thought that an adult might help us assess the situation, at least figure out if something's wrong."

"It's worth looking into, at least," he said. "When a student's routine and habits change suddenly in this way, it generally means something serious has happened."

"Just tell us if there's anything we can do," Teresa put in. Heads all around her nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Miss Palmer, and all of you. For the moment, just keep an eye out for her. If you see her, let a staff member know."

"Sir?" Teresa spoke up again. "Should I tell Lydia?"

Severus stopped short, considering her words. He hadn't really thought about Katherine and Lydia Black until Teresa had asked the question. The two first-years were Estella's younger sisters, and they clearly idolized the older girl. It would be hard for them to hear this news, but he realized that it would only be worse if they heard it through the grapevine.

"You might as well," he said finally. "And is there someone who can speak to Katherine Black of Ravenclaw?"

"I can," offered a third-year Ravenclaw.

"Thank you."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Missing?" Minerva McGonagall, the Headmistress of Hogwarts looked shocked. "Are you sure?"

"Just about," Severus answered grimly. "If no one's seen her by lunch tomorrow, I think we'll be able to say so for certain."

"Do you intend to speak with the family now?"

"I've already arranged for the girls to be informed by other members of their respective Houses. Assuming Estella isn't found by tomorrow, I'll speak with Regulus then."

"You don't have to act so stiff and professional about all this, you know."

"What?" This caught Severus completely off guard.

"I know you care for her. You're her godfather, for Merlin's sake. There's nothing wrong with being worried, or showing it. You'd be crazy not to be worried."

"I really hope this worrying is all for nothing." Severus let a bit of his mask of calm slip, but he still rigidly refused to allow himself to break down. "But the rational part of my mind tells me otherwise. It - it doesn't make sense."

"I know. But we'll do what we can. I promise."

**Please Review.**

**For anyone who might be wondering how Estella has two sisters in the same year, you'll find out the crazy dynamics of the Black family in the next few chapters. I know I originally said next chapter but that isn't working right.  
**

**And yes, it is important that the Slytherin first year has the same last name as Estella's kidnapper. You'll find out why if you keep reading.**


	3. Chapter Two: Every Certainty I Had

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Two: Every Certainty I Had  
**_

By noon the next day, the Hogwarts staff was forced to admit the truth they had been trying to deny. Estella Black was missing, likely kidnapped from the Hogwarts grounds - a nearly unprecedented event. McGonagall took upon herself the responsibility of making the announcement at lunch, urging students with any information on her whereabouts or the possible identity of the kidnapper to speak to a staff member. She had decided against asking them to speak to her directly, because she had realized that many students would prefer to confide in their Head of House or a favorite teacher. The important thing was the information itself, not the channels through which it was communicated.

Severus took upon himself a responsibility even more difficult than the Headmistress'; the task of speaking to Regulus Black, Estella's father. Estella's head of House had offered to do it, but Severus and Regulus were as close as brothers and Severus knew it would be best if his friend heard it from him. So it was with a heavy heart that he stepped through his hearth into the sitting room of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"Severus?" Regulus put aside the papers he was working on when he saw his friend step unexpectedly through the Floo Network. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be teaching?"

"I - I'm actually here more or less in my official capacity. There's something I need to talk to you about."

"The girls, I assume. What have they done?"

"It's not something they've done. Sit down. You're not going to like this."

Regulus obliged. "What is it?"

Severus took a deep breath before spilling the awful news. "Ellie's missing."

"What? What do you mean, missing?"

"She hasn't been seen since yesterday afternoon. All her things are exactly where they were - even her wand was still in her dorm room, she must not have taken it when she went to lunch. It's been reported to the Ministry as a probable kidnapping. I'm sorry, Reg. I wish there was more I could say."

Regulus sat in numb shock. His baby, his Estella - he couldn't believe his own ears. Surely this was all just a nightmare. Surely he'd wake up in a few moments and it would never have happened.

"No," he finally managed to whisper. "No, it can't be, this can't be..."

Severus said nothing. There was nothing he could say. Instead, he simply pulled his friend into a tight embrace. Regulus buried his face in his friend's robes and began to sob as the numbness wore off. Severus held him comfortingly as tears streamed down his own face.

"I need to get Sarah," was the first thing Regulus said when he was able to speak again. "I need to tell her - she needs to know -"

"No, Reg. I'll get Sarah. You'll Splinch yourself if you try to Apparate in your state."

"I'm her husband, Sev. She needs me." He paused. "And I need her. Merlin, I need her."

"I know you do. But you're too upset to get her right now. It'll only take a few minutes, and then she'll be here, and you can be with her."

Regulus nodded reluctantly. "Will _you_ be all right to Apparate?"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry." Severus gently pulled free of his friend's arms and vanished with a crack.

xxxxxxxxxx

"No, no! You have to keep your back straight! I just told you that yesterday!" Sarah Black resisted the urge to bang her head against a wall. "God have mercy."

Sarah would never deny that she loved her job as a choreographer for a local theatre, but there were days when the actors she worked with seemed incapable of remembering the things she had taught them less than a week ago. This was one of those days.

Her musing was interrupted by a loud crack that made several cast members jump in terror.

"What was that?" asked someone. "Did something fall down or break?"

"Um, maybe," Sarah mumbled elusively. She had recognized the sound for what it was, but she too was confused. She knew that Regulus would never Apparate into anywhere but her office - which he had specially warded so that the sound wouldn't carry - and even that was only in an emergency. She began to panic. Could it be some sort of Dark wizard or something?

Fortunately, before she could panic any further, Severus Snape came into view. Sarah nearly laughed with relief, until she noticed the look on his face. Not only was he worried about something, but his eyes were red and damp. He'd been crying, and that frightened her more than anything. She had never seen him cry.

"Everyone take ten minutes," she commanded, trying to keep her voice steady. The cast scurried off and she approached Severus. "What's going on?"

"Is there somewhere we can talk in private?"

"My office." Sarah ushered him in and closed the door.

"Sarah," he began, "there's no easy way to break this to you. Ellie's missing. She hasn't been seen since yesterday."

"Oh, God," Sarah whispered, sinking heavily into a chair. "Do you have any idea what happened?"

"Nothing of hers was gone from Hogwarts, not even her wand, which leads us to believe it was a kidnapping. Other than that, nothing. I'm sorry."

"God, no, not my baby. Not my girl." Sarah doubled forward and put her head in her hands. "No, no."

"I'll take you home," Severus offered.

"Thank you, just let me check out," Sarah managed through the lump in her throat.

Two minutes later, she had arranged to be out for the next week, and Severus took her home by Side-along Apparition. The first thing she saw was Regulus, and she immediately flung herself into his arms. He held her tightly, both of them crying now.

The familiar pop of Apparition startled all three occupants of the room, who whirled to see Sirius Black standing ashen-faced in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Severus asked a little more harshly than he intended. The past day had been difficult and painful, and he was now taking it out on the best available target, his childhood rival.

But Sirius was too upset to be fazed or snap back. He didn't respond to Severus, didn't even acknowledge his existence. His eyes were locked on his brother.

"I heard - the call came in - I came as soon as -" Sirius didn't even seem able to form a coherent sentence. He sank into a chair, shaking. Regulus gently released his wife and moved to hug his brother.

"No, Reg," Sirius tried to protest, halfheartedly pushing him away. "You shouldn't be the one comforting me."

"You need comforting as much as I do," Regulus insisted. He pulled his brother close again and this time Sirius didn't fight him. He clung tightly to the figure in his arms, giving in to the tears he had been repressing.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Miss Malfoy, you're to come with me."

Estella didn't respond to the title, even though she knew the guard was talking to her. As far as she was concerned, Lucius Malfoy was not her father, and she would not acknowledge him as such by letting his name be used as hers. She couldn't stop the guards from calling her that, of course, but she could refuse to respond to the name.

"Miss Malfoy, your father wants to see you. Miss Malfoy!" Frustrated, the guard grabbed her by the hair and forced her to turn her head. "Are you listening to me at all?"

"Oh, were you speaking to me? I heard a name that isn't mine, and therefore I assumed you were addressing someone else."

"Do you have to be difficult?"

"Call me by my name, and I'll respond."

Her calm was infuriating to him. He jerked forcefully on her hair and then yanked her to a standing position. "Come with me. Your father will hear about this."

"He's not my father," she mumbled defiantly as she was dragged out of the room, leaving the other girls staring after her in amazement. None of them had ever dared to stand up to the guards the way their new companion had.

Malfoy was waiting impatiently when the guard pushed Estella in, shoving the door shut behind her. His eyes flickered disapprovingly over her.

"Have you given any thought to our discussion last night? Unlike those Mudbloods, you don't have to stay in that awful cell. Just say the word, princess, and you can have anything you want."

"I'd rather stay in that cell than call you father." She met his eyes steadily.

"You have no idea what you're missing out on. Let me give you a little taste." He lifted a small bundle and threw it at her. Estella realized as she caught the bundle that it was a set of the most expensive clothes she had ever handled in her life.

"Please," Malfoy continued, "get dressed."

"I told you, I'm not interested in anything you have to offer."

"I insist." Malfoy stepped so close to Estella that she could feel his breath on her face. "Here, let me help you." He slid her outer robe off her shoulders, then, without warning, he ripped the front of her blouse.

"What are you doing?" She stepped back a few paces, pushing his hands away forcefully.

"You really are beautiful. Just like your mother." Malfoy continued to stare at her.

"You're disgusting."

"Come here," he murmured. "Let me help you."

"I can dress myself, thank you." She quickly shed the torn blouse, replacing it with the one in her arms. Deciding to change completely before Malfoy tried to "help" her again, she tugged the blouse down as low as possible before switching her skirt in as little time as humanly possible. The outfit was beautiful, and had it been given to her by anyone else, under any other circumstance, she would have been thrilled to have it. Now, it was only a symbol of the control her captor had over her.

"Don't glare at me like that. I'm your father, Ellie, and don't forget it!"

"You've never acted like a father! What have you ever done for me?"

"Don't you understand! There was nothing I _could_ do! I was locked in Azkaban!"

"And with good reason! You _killed_ people. You willingly followed a madman. And I don't even know the worst of what you did because it's so horrible nobody will tell me!"

"You've been indoctrinated against me." Malfoy was clearly struggling to keep his temper in check.

"I can think for myself, and I know that I will never call a prejudiced bigot my father. Blood means nothing to me. Nothing. And if you really cared about me, then you'd care about what I think!"

"You just don't learn, do you? I'll have to put you back in the cell. I don't want to do this, but it's the only way to make you pay attention."

"I don't care what you do," she snapped defiantly. "I'll never call you father."

"Guard! Put her back!"

xxxxxxxxxx

"You don't know what happened?" Lydia Black asked hesitantly, her huge eyes filling with tears.

"No, I'm sorry," McGonagall answered patiently. She had already answered that very question, but she understood that the news was a lot for two eleven-year-old girls to take in.

"It just doesn't make sense," Katherine Black added quietly. "She was always the one who saved other people, not the one who needed other people to save her."

The girls shared a look, each thinking about what their sister had done for them. She had saved Katherine from an abusive household, gotten her adopted into the Blacks. She had been the one to introduce Katherine to Lydia, an action which had resulted in their father meeting Sarah, Lydia's mother. She had played with both of them where many girls would have scoffed at the idea of spending time with their younger sisters. And now she was gone, yanked out of their lives with no warning at all.

xxxxxxxxxx

"And you took clothes from him?" Julie asked almost scathingly.

"He _ripped my blouse_. He probably would have just kept undressing me if I hadn't just put the clothes on myself. He kept staring at me, said how pretty I was - it was like he was talking to a lover or something. It was creepy. I wasn't going to let him touch me if I could help it."

"Julie, you're not being fair," Hannah added. "Of course she took them. They're _clothes_. It doesn't mean she's accepting him. It means she did what he wanted to get him to back off."

Several of the other girls, most notably Rose and Isabelle, were glaring at Julie also. Realizing she was outnumbered, the older girl crossed her arms tightly and sank back with a huff.

"Ellie?" Sophie spoke up quietly. "You said you'd tell a little bit of the story every day, and that was yesterday, so could you maybe tell us a little bit more now?"

"Well, all right."

_Radames' men had come back from their expedition, dragging a large group of Nubian women._

_"We found them along the riverbank, Captain," one explained. He pushed a particular woman who had been giving him trouble to the front._

_"You must have a burning desire to see Egypt," Radames commented mockingly. "Put her in chains."_

_As the men did so, Radames and his cartographer -_

"What's a cartographer?" interrupted Carrie.

"A mapmaker," Estella explained.

_Radames and his cartographer stepped off to one side to discuss a recently drawn map. It was then that the girl saw her chance. She grabbed a sword from a nearby guard, forced him to his knees, and put the blade to his throat._

_"Release them," she ordered, as Radames rushed over angrily. "You took us from Nubia, and now you say we belong to you, yes? Well, I took this soldier from your ranks, so by your logic, he belongs to me. Now, release them."_

_It was a plan that might have worked, had it not been for Radames' quick thinking. He signaled to his men, and several of them grabbed the Nubian women. Realizing the threat, she dropped her sword._

_"Throw her in the river!" one soldier yelled angrily._

_"No," Radames answered. "I have a better plan for her."_

_Radames led the girl into the private room of his ship, while his men handled the other women. He stepped towards her, and she flinched, stepping back._

_"Don't," she hissed._

_"You don't want me to remove your shackles?" Radames asked, and she allowed him to do so, realizing that was all he wanted._

_"They'll only get in the way," he explained. "Very impressive back there. I should enlist you in my army. Make you my lieutenant."_

_"Are you mocking me, Captain?" she asked sharply._

_"No. Admiring you." Radames pulled off his shirt and dropped it on the floor. "You know what's going to happen now? You are going to scrub the filth of battle from my skin."_

_She took the sponge and began to scrub as hard as she could, eager to cause Radames pain._

_"You're much better with a sword than you are with a sponge," he commented, wincing._

_"I wish I had a sword now," she retorted._

"What's 'retorted' mean?" asked Sophie.

"Answered back."

_"There's mine," Radames replied. "Help yourself. Who taught you to use a sword?"_

_"My father."_

_"Because he knows Nubian men can't defend their women?" Radames sneered. "You're not finished!" he added as she threw the sponge down angrily._

_"Oh, yes I am," she responded._

_"You enjoy living dangerously, don't you?" he snarled._

_"About as much as I enjoy washing your filthy Egyptian skin!"_

_"You -" he began, but she cut him off._

_"You know nothing about me and care even less  
How could you understand our emptiness  
You've plundered our wisdom, our knowledge, our wealth  
In bleeding us dry  
You long for our spirit  
But that you will never possess  
The past is now another land  
Far beyond my reach  
Invaded by insidious  
Foreign bodies, foreign speech  
Where timeless joys of childhood  
Lie broken on the beach"_

_"What is your name?" Radames asked._

_"Aida."_

_"Captain!" called a soldier. "We're ready to dock!"_

_Radames picked up the chains from the floor._

_"No, please," Aida begged. "Leave them off."_

_"You're a slave now," Radames replied, ignoring her request. "And if you want to survive, you'd best remember it!"_

_He left, leaving Aida alone with her thoughts._

_"The present is an empty space  
Between the good and bad  
A moment leading nowhere  
Too pointless to be sad  
But time enough to lay to waste  
Every certainty I had  
The future is a barren world  
From which I can't return  
Both heartless and material  
Its wretched spoils not my concern  
Shining like an evil sun  
As my childhood treasures burn  
Shining like an evil sun  
As my childhood treasures burn"_

"We'll pick up here tomorrow," Estella promised.

"Why can't you tell just a bit more?" asked Angela.

"This is a good place to stop. Otherwise, we get into a whole new part of the story. Now, maybe you'd like to hear a bit more about Hogwarts?"

**Please Review. I've had about 50 visitors to this story but no reviews. And I do accept anonymous reviews. **

**I'm really sorry it took me so long to update. My life's been hectic these past few weeks. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.**

**For those of you musical lovers out there, I am aware that I have omitted/changed a few lines from the telling of Aida. Remember, Estella's telling the story from memory. I didn't think it was realistic for her to remember it perfectly, word-for-word.**


	4. Chapter Three: Plans I've Put In Place

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Three:**_**_ Plans I've Put In Place_**

It was with heavy hearts that the Black sisters added their names to the list of students who would be returning home for Christmas. Neither of them really wanted to go to a home that would seem desperately lonely without their older sister, but they needed their family, and the feeling was mutual. The Headmistress had offered to send them home by Portkey on the day Estella had disappeared, but they had both elected to stay for the remaining three days before the Hogwarts Express would take students back to London. Neither of them was ready to face the emptiness yet.

The only person who seemed to understand this was Teresa, who was Lydia's dorm-mate. Teresa had confided in Lydia that she dreaded the empty house that would only remind her that her father was gone.

"I wasn't going to go home for Christmas," she had admitted, "but mum came all the way up to the school to ask me to. She's all I have left; I couldn't say no."

Teresa proved to be a rock for Katherine and Lydia. She understood grief and pain in a way that none of their other friends could. They had as first felt bad for burdening her with their sadness, knowing how much she already had to deal with, but she had been adamant that she was there for them and had suggested that she could talk to them about her problems as well. Her offer had broken the ice and the three of them had talked -- and cried -- for hours.

xxxxxxxxxx

"It was Malfoy."

Every eye in the room turned to look at Regulus Black, who had made this declaration out of nowhere. He, Sarah, and several Aurors (including Sirius) had been discussing Estella's kidnapping. One of the Aurors had asked if anyone had any idea who might have taken her, but Regulus' reply, spoken with firm certainty, had shocked everyone.

"Mr. Black," one of the Aurors began, "I know it's tempting to blame things like this on a known escaped criminal, but let's consider the facts --"

"It's not just that he's an escaped criminal, it's more personal than that. I was instrumental in getting him put in Azkaban."

"You were?" Sarah asked in shock. The Aurors in the room, with the exception of Sirius, stared at him with expressions that mirrored hers.

"Yes. I was one of the prime witnesses in the case."

"What were you a witness for, specifically?" asked one of the Aurors.

"Look it up," Regulus said somewhat sharply. "It's in the records."

"Mr. Black, you not cooperating only makes our job harder."

"The specifics of his testimony are hardly relevant to the kidnapping," Sirius pointed out, earning him a grateful look from his brother. "He's saying that he thinks Malfoy kidnapped his daughter to get revenge on him. What was said at the trial has nothing to do with this situation."

"Exactly," Regulus agreed almost too quickly, eager to get the attention off of himself and his testimony at Malfoy's trial. "Malfoy may be cruel, but he isn't stupid. He knows that the easiest way to hurt me is through my children."

"So you think he targeted Estella because she's your daughter?"

"I don't think he ever targeted Estella specifically. I think he sent someone into Hogwarts -- I highly doubt he went himself, it would have been too risky -- with orders to capture one of my daughters, and Estella was the first one they saw, or the easiest to get at, or something."

"You don't think he would have sent you a letter -- a ransom notice, maybe, or even just a taunt."

"Like I said, he's smart." Regulus' voice was thick with emotion. "He knows that it's worse for me not knowing. He probably didn't realize I'd be onto his game so soon. He thought I'd spend days, maybe weeks, just waiting and wondering, and that would be worse than any letter he could send."

"You've thought this out very intricately."

"Know thy enemy," Regulus quoted softly.

"True enough. So we'll assume Malfoy is the kidnapper. Now we have to figure out his location..."

xxxxxxxxxx

"My answer is the same as it ever was." Estella firmly met the eyes of Malfoy and Leanne, refusing to be intimidated.

"I don't understand you," Leanne sighed. "We're offering you a palace, and you'd rather stay in a cell?"

"If it means sticking with my principles, then yes."

"Leanne, leave us alone for a little while," Malfoy said silkily. "I'm sure that a nice little talk will help us get things sorted out.

"Of course, my love." Leanne kissed him lightly before exiting the room.

"Now," Malfoy whispered, "where were we?"

"Nowhere I want to be," she hissed back, refusing to show him how afraid she was.

"Ah, now, I like a girl with a bit of fire, I'll admit, but you're pushing it."

"Can you stop talking about me like I'm your lover? I'm fourteen years old."

"You're so innocent, I can tell. Come here, I want to look at you."

"You can see me just fine from right here."

"No, I want to really see you." He stepped up to her, backing her into a corner, then slid off her blouse and unclasped her skirt so it fell in a pool around her feet. Estella's eyes flashed angrily and she drew her arms up across her chest.

"Now, now, don't be shy." He took both of her hands and forced her arms down by her sides. Holding them there with one of his own arms, he used the other hand to strip her completely.

"You _are_ beautiful." He allowed his eyes to roam over her naked body, laughing at her attempts to cover herself. "So perfect." One long, pale hand extended to caress her.

"Don't touch me!" she hissed.

"So pretty." His hand traveled down her body. "How you tempt me, princess."

"Get your hands off me."

"Come here." Before she could resist him, he pulled her to him and kissed her roughly.

"Leave me alone. That's sick."

"Now, Ellie, be a good girl and do what daddy says. You've never had anyone touch you like this, have you? You've never had anyone kiss you?"

"No, I most certainly have not, nor do I want you to be the first!" She tried to pull away, and when that failed, she drew back and slapped him across the face, putting as much force as she could behind the blow. He let go of her, reeling backwards.

"Stupid move, girl. You don't have anywhere to go." He pulled his wand from his pocket. "You'll pay for that! _Crucio!_"

Estella crumbled to the floor, her entire body consumed with pain. She could barely get enough breath to scream. The few seconds he had her under the curse felt like hours, and when he lifted it, she lay on the floor, curled in a tiny ball.

"I see we'll have to take this to the next level. Get dressed, this is no fun when you're a sniveling little ball on the floor." He dropped her clothes next to her and she pulled them on, ignoring the pain it caused her. She didn't want to be naked in front of Malfoy a second longer than she had to.

"My offer still stands. You need only acknowledge me as your father and Leanne as your mother and you can have every privelege that comes with being my daughter. Anything you want, anything at all, will be yours. But I see that the cell isn't working to calm your temper, so I'll have to punish you every day until you learn your lesson."

"I don't care what you do. My answer won't change."

"You think not? Let's see what will happen after a few days -- or weeks -- or months. I have all the time in the world. This is up to you."

"I don't care how much time you have, and the more you punish me, the less like a father you become. A father would never dream of treating me the way you do."

"My dear, if you won't cooperate, I'll have to put you back in the cell. But why don't I give you an example of how nice I can be. You don't like the guards, do you? I know you don't. So I'll take you to your room myself." He firmly grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet, ignoring her gasp of pain. "Let's go. Come on." He dragged her down the hall and threw her in the cell, slamming and locking the door.

"Are you okay?" Rose was next to Estella almost before the door had closed. "What did he do this time?"

"He pulled off all my clothes completely, and then he started touching me, and he kissed me, so I slapped him."

Isabelle's eyes went wide. "You _did_?"

"Yes. So then he -- well, it's hard to explain if you don't understand magic ..."

"He did that thing that makes you hurt all over," Sophie stated matter-of-factly.

"How do you know about that?"

"He does it to us too," Kaitlin explained quietly. "If we're bad, or we don't do what he wants, or sometimes just because he wants to even if we didn't do anything wrong."

"He says that's what we're here for," Hannah added. "To please him, and for him to take out his frustration on us. He says we're just mudbloods who'll never be good for anything else."

"Don't ever call yourself that," Estella told her sharply. "It's an insult, and you're worth ten of Malfoy, don't ever forget that."

"Ellie, is that the way all wizards feel?" Susan asked worriedly. "Like we're less than them?"

"Not at all. There are a few people -- less than there used to be -- who believe that wizards from all-magical families are better than everyone else, but they're in the minority. Malfoy used to work for a wizard named Voldemort, who believed that everyone who wasn't from a magical family should be killed, and that anyone who disagreed with him was no better and should be killed too. Voldemort was killed in 1998, and that was when Malfoy and the rest of his followers went to Azkaban -- the wizard prison. They stopped spreading that attitude around, and so it's become less and less common. I won't say that no one feels that way, but a muggle-born -- that's the proper term for a magical person with no magical parents -- can go to school and to most wizarding places without having to worry about that."

"Why do people even feel that way in the first place?" Angela asked.

"I don't know," Ellie answered, carefully considering the question. "Maybe they want a reason to feel important. Maybe it's just something they were taught by their parents. I don't know. But enough about that. Who wants to hear the next segment of Aida?"

A chorus of "I do" greeted the idea from everyone except Julie, who still sat aloof.

_The ship docked on a busy port. Radames and his men herded the girls off the ship. A young man ran past, and Radames called out to him._

_"Mereb!"_

_"Master!" Mereb hurried up to him. "I'm so glad you've returned."_

_"Have you kept my house in order?" Radames asked._

_"Yes," Mereb replied. "Well, except for a few casks of wine which have mysteriously dissapeared." He kept his eyes down slightly as he said this._

_If Radames suspected Mereb of stealing the wine, he made no indication. "Again?" he asked._

_At that moment Zoser, Radames' father approached them. "Here you are my son, home at last! Step aside Mereb!."_

_"It's good to see you, father." Radames embraced him._

_"You were gone for so long, Radames, that I was beginning to worry. But I kept telling the princess that no man could best you with a sword."_

_"No man got the better of me," Radames assured him. Then, glancing over at Aida, he admitted, "Though a certain woman may have."_

_"You brought us captives?" Zoser noticed the women for the first time. "Good. Take them to the copper mines. We can't seem to keep them alive down there."_

_"Stop!" Radames ordered the guards who had already begun to comply with Zoser's request. "Not this one." He indicated Aida. "I need a gift for the princess. Take the others to the Palace Groundskeeper. They can help with the harvest. They're all women; they wouldn't last a day in the copper mines."_

_"As you wish," Zoser allowed. "They're your slaves."_

_Radames walked up to Aida. "Give me your hands, Aida," he ordered._

_Mereb jumped at the name. "Your name is Aida?"_

_Radames silenced Mereb with a look, before turning back to Aida and removing her shackles. "I'm going to remove these," he told her. "But know that if you try to escape, I will come after you myself."_

_"You flatter me, Captain," Aida answered icily. "You don't look like a man who would chase after any woman."_

_"I'll make an exception for you," he told her. "Mereb, take her to Princess Amneris with my compliments."_

"Amneris!" Kaitlin cried in recognition. "That's the pharaoh from the beginning."

"Yes." Estella nodded slightly. "It is."

_"You've been gone six months," Zoser pointed out. "I really think a personal appearence is in order."_

_"In good time, father," Radames insisted. "Though you and the Princess should know that as soon as my crew is rested, I am setting out again."_

_"Radames, you can't," Zoser told him. "Egypt needs you now. Pharaoh is not the powerful leader he once was."_

_"While you've been away cavorting__  
Matters here have moved apace  
__Now I need you home supporting  
All the plans I've put in place__  
First of all this means your wedding  
You'll recall your future bride  
For the way that Pharaoh's heading  
Time's no longer on our side  
According to the hawk god, Horus  
Our most regal invalid  
Is not that much longer for us  
Build another pyramid!"_

_"You mean Pharaoh has fallen ill?" Radames asked. "Is it serious?"_

_"I'm afraid so."_

_"I must go to him," Radames insisted._

_"__Yes. That will bring him some comfort. I'll see you tonight at the banquet," Zoser said as Radames hurried off, leaving him with only a group of royal ministers.  
_

_"There are many who'll be tearful_  
_As our leader fades away_  
_But our architects are cheerful_  
_And each dog must have its day_  
_If our country is to flourish_  
_Then my son must take the lead_  
_Be our inspiration, nourish_  
_All our hopes, our dreams, our creed_  
_Soon our monarch will have filled a tomb_  
_Just like his fathers did_  
_Summon Egypt's greatest builders_  
_Re: another pyramid_  
_Build it, build it_  
_Another pyramid_  
_There will be a time for mourning_  
_But for now put plans on hold_  
_For I give the nation warning_  
_That before the corpse is cold_  
_We'll extend fair Egypt's power_  
_Egypt's glory strength and style_  
_We shall have our finest hour_  
_Far beyond the mighty Nile_  
_He must have a vault that's grand by_  
_Any standards, floor to lid_  
_Put five thousand slaves on stand by_  
_Build another pyramid!"_

_Zoser suddenly turned on one of the ministers. "Someone's been telling the pharaoh about our private meetings. Traitor!" He turned to the others. "He's become a liability."_

"A what?" Sophie asked.

"Something that gets in the way instead of helping," Rose explained for Estella.

_Before he could react, the minister was surrouned by his former allies and stabbed. Zoser glanced briefly at him, showing no compassion whatsoever._

_"He must have a vault that's grand by  
Any standards, floor to lid  
Put five thousand slaves on stand by  
Build another pyramid!"_

_Zoser turned to one minister. "You extracted more arsenic?"_

"What's that mean?" Marissa asked quietly. It was the first time Estella remembered hearing the little girl speak without prompting.

"He's asking if the minister dug up any more poison."

_The minister handed Zoser some of the arsenic he had dug up._

_Zoser smiled, satisfied. "Put some in Pharaoh's wine tonight at the banquet. Again, only a few drops. We don't want him dying just yet."_

This was met with gasps of shock. "He's poisoning the pharaoh?" Lauren asked.

"Indeed he is. We'll pick up here tomorrow."

**Please review. Thanks to I'S Watcher for my first and only review so far.**


	5. Chapter Four: No Terror Can Subdue

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

**_Chapter Four: __No Terror Can Subdue_**

"What do you mean you can't find your socks? No, I don't know where they are! It's not my job to keep track of your socks!"

The first-year Slytherin girls' dorm was practically buzzing with energy. Four pre-teen girls rushed to and fro, flinging their belongings into their trunks lest they be left trying to pack the next morning before the train left at eleven. They were so excited that they failed to notice the far more somber behavior of their dorm-mates. Teresa and Lydia were quietly and calmly packing, both dreading their impending return home.

"Mum wrote me today," Teresa told Lydia at one point. "She said she has a surprise for me. Frankly, I don't care. I want to stay here. But I can't tell her that. It wouldn't be fair. I mean, she lost my dad too."

"I know," Lydia answered. "I feel the same way. I mean, if I told Dad I wanted to stay, I know he'd let me, but I don't want to do that to him. Neither does Katie."

xxxxxxxxxx

"How many times do I have to say this before it gets through your thick head? I'm not going to change my mind!"

"You've upset your mother terribly, Ellie." Malfoy's silky voice scared her worse than any amount of shouting could have. "She can't even bring herself to talk to you anymore."

"Good. I don't want to talk to her."

"Ellie, I don't want to punish you, but you leave me no choice. _Crucio_!"

Estella expected the pain this time, but still ended up a gasping mess on the floor by the time he was finished. She drew herself to a sitting position, glaring at him. "And there's my point. Do you really think that's how a father's supposed to act?"

"You act like you're the first child I've ever had. I had a son before you. I let him get away with too much, and he turned out weak and powerless, no good to anyone. I want to do right by you, Ellie. You just have to give me a chance."

"Maybe he ended up the way he was because you were too hard on him! Have you ever thought about that? Or are you still stuck in the lying mindset that says your only fault was being too kind?"

"Don't you talk to me that way!"

"I'll talk to you any way I please!"

"Listen to me, Ellie. There's rules in this world you have to learn." He roughly lifted her off the floor. "I am the parent, you are the child." He dropped her on the bed. "And more than that, I am the man, you are the woman. That means you submit to me. Now undress."

"I won't! I won't submit to you!"

"Yes, you will." He began pulling her clothes off forcefully. "I'd rather you do so willingly, but if you don't, I'll make you." He left her lying naked on the bed and began to remove his own clothes.

"No!" Estella stared wide-eyed at him as he pressed her shoulders to the bed, kneeling over her. "No, please, no."

"No arguing," he breathed into her ear. "This is going to be fun."

xxxxxxxxxx

"How is one man so damn hard to find?" Sirius demanded as he threw a stack of papers onto the table.

"It's not just one man," Hermione Weasley pointed out reasonably. Hermione, a high-ranking member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had agreed to help with the case both in her official capacity and as a favor to Regulus. She had known Sirius for years, but she had never worked with him, and she was finding his attitude irritating. "Malfoy may be the only one you're looking for, but I - and the entire Auror department - are reasonably certain that he has at least one accomplice. That's bound to make things harder."

"That doesn't help, Hermione," Regulus pointed out quietly, struggling to keep back his tears.

"Oh, Merlin, Regulus, I'm sorry," she whispered, realizing too late the effect her careless words had had on the distressed father sitting next to her. "I didn't mean to - I was just being honest."

"I know. Now let's go over the facts again..."

xxxxxxxxxx

"It's taking longer than usual." Rose glanced nervously at the door.

"Will you two shut it?" Julie glared at them angrily. "She's not like us, she's not one of us, she's his daughter! What's to say she'll come back at all?"

"Julie, come off it," Hannah snapped angrily. "She can't help who her parents are! She's stuck here with us; that makes her one of us!"

"She's been studying magic!"

"I would've been too, if I'd had any choice! So would Rose! And what about all of them?" she indicated the younger girls. "They'll be studying magic in a few years too!"

"Don't talk like that! They can still be saved!"

"Julie, come off it!" Rose yelled angrily. "You're not a missionary, and you're no better than us, so stop acting like you are!"

"Do you want these children condemned?" Julie yelled angrily. "Do you?"

"I think you're talking nonsense," Rose answered angrily.

"You -" Julie began, but she was cut off when the door swung open and Estella was flung inside.

"Ellie?" Rose hurried to her friend, clearly able to see the older girl's red eyes and tear-streaked face. "What happened?"

"He - he wanted me to submit to him - I didn't want to - then he put me on the bed, and he - he -"

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything else, I understand." Hannah put an arm around the other girl and guided her to the floor.

"You do? He hasn't done it to you too, has he?"

Hannah nodded solemnly.

"The little girls too?" Estella asked, dreading the answer. The silence that followed the question told her everything.

"How could he?" Her pain-filled eyes now blazed with anger as well. "They're just children!"

"Ellie," Lauren broke in, "what if you told us some more of Aida? It might help you."

"It might," she agreed.

_Aida and Mereb walked down the hall, Aida now wearing a handmaiden's dress. Mereb stopped to look at her appraisingly._

_"Well, now you look like a handmaiden. But at least the Captain saw that you are special."_

_Aida rolled her eyes. "What that man sees and understands could be etched on a grain of sand."_

_"That could be, but he did save you and the other women from the copper mines."_

_"Yes," Aida admitted slowly, "that was surprising and generous of him."_

_"When I was ten," Mereb explained, "Radames saved me from being beaten to death by a palace guard. He promised he'd look after me from then on. He has kept his promise."_

_Aida only turned away._

_"Look," Mereb pleaded, "I know what you're thinking - that I've become one of them. But I am still Nubian. I will always be Nubian._

_"I grew up in your hometown_  
_At least began to grow_  
_I hadn't got to my first shave_  
_before the body blow_  
_Egyptians in the courtyard_  
_My family in chains_  
_You witnessed our abduction_  
_Which possibly explains_  
_How I know you_  
_How I know you_  
_Before that fateful morning_  
_My family enjoyed_  
_A privileged existence_  
_For my father was employed_  
_As advisor to the King no less_  
_Which surely rings a bell_  
_For as your are his daughter_  
_You probably can tell_  
_How I know you_  
_Yes I know you"_

_Aida turned back to him, realizing how dangerous Mereb's information could be if it fell into the wrong hands._

_"You know too much and what you say_  
_Is better left unknown_  
_And now I'm just a slave like you_  
_Our lives are not our own"_

_But Mereb was stubborn._

_"I never have abandoned_  
_And nor I think could you_  
_That spark of hope for freedom_  
_No terror can subdue."_

_Aida continued trying to convince him, despite his protests._

_"My only hope is silence_  
_You've never seen my face"_

_"No you remain a princess_  
_In any time or place"_

_"You don't know me"_

_"Yes, I know you"_

_"You don't know me"_

_"How I know you_  
_How I know you"_

_"Mereb," Aida insisted, "you must treat me like any other slave. If the Egyptians knew I was the daughter of the Nubian King..."_

_"They would kill you," Mereb finished. "But our people will keep your secret."_

_"No." Aida was firm. "You must not tell anyone who I am. From now on, I am nothing but a gift from an Egyptian captain to his Princess."_

_Mereb finally agreed. "Just so you know, Amneris is more than that to Radames. She's his betrothed."_

_"He's to be married? When?"_

_Mereb laughed. "The day his ship sinks and the royal builders refuse to make him another. Come; let's get you to the Princess."_

"And we'll pick up there tomorrow," Estella finished. To her surprise, Lauren had been right. She did feel slightly better after having allowed her mind to wander to fictional ancient Egypt.

**Shortest chapter yet, but don't worry. This is almost a placeholder. After this, things will get very interesting very fast.**

**Please review.  
**


	6. Chapter Five: Never Compromise

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Five: Never Compromise**_

"You still say no?" Malfoy's eyes burned with rage.

"Wow, you finally grew a brain. I'm impressed." Estella kept her gaze on the floor, not wanting to meet his gaze lest he realize how afraid she really was. "Now let's see if you can actually use it."

"How many times do I have to say it? You don't ever talk to me that way."

"How many times do _I_ have to say it? I don't care what you want."

"You know, I thought yesterday was an awful lot of fun." He kept his tone light and conversational, seeming to realize this scared her more than anything. "But you seemed to disagree. I think you haven't been exposed to it enough. Come here and we'll try it again."

"No," Estella whispered, her facade dropping. "No, no."

But her protests were futile. Malfoy had already thrown her on the bed and yanked off her clothing. She closed her eyes, refusing to see him looming over her, but she couldn't ignore the sudden stab of pain, couldn't keep from feeling his body on hers. Tears poured from beneath her eyelids. It seemed like forever before he finally climbed off her.

"Now get dressed," he ordered. "I don't have all day."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Over here!"

"It feels like it's been forever!"

"We've missed you!"

"Wait till you hear about what Hogwarts is like!"

"Dad! Come help me get this trunk!"

The platform was overrun with chaos. Students and parents were running everywhere, trying to find each other, trying to get luggage loaded onto trolleys, and trying to leave the platform. It was this situation that Teresa, Katherine, and Lydia entered as they slowly, reluctantly stepped off the train.

"Write to us whenever you want," Lydia told Teresa. "Here." She pulled a scrap of parchment from her pocket and scribbled with a Muggle pen _Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place_. "That's our address."

"Thank you."

"Katie! Lydia!" Regulus and Sarah were running towards their younger daughters, pulling them into a group embrace. "Come on, let's go home."

"Teresa." Leanne Palmer stood behind the girl.

"Hello, Mother," Teresa answered quietly. They had never really been close. Damion Palmer, Teresa's father, had been the catalyst between them. Whenever the whole family was together, he would always initiate conversations, making sure to bring up topics that both his wife and daughter would have something to say about. Without him there, Leanne and Teresa's interactions were always awkward and uncomfortable.

"Come on. There's something I want to show you." Leanne extended her arm, which Teresa took, gripping her trunk in the other hand. With a loud crack, the two of them vanished.

"Mother, where are we?" Teresa asked as soon as she saw where they had Apparated to. "This isn't our house."

"Oh, my dear, I couldn't bring myself to go back there, not so soon. An old friend of mine has graciously allowed us to stay here. Come along, you'll have to meet him."

Teresa obligingly followed her mother, biting her lip so as not to cry. She didn't blame her mother for trying to escape her grief, but to the eleven-year-old it felt like an attempt to wipe away any traces of her father's existence.

"Ah, here you are. Teresa, may I present Lucius Malfoy? Lucius, my daughter."

Teresa looked up, startled. She knew the man by reputation, but that was hardly comforting. He was an escaped criminal, and a dangerous one at that. Certainly not the kind of person she wanted around her. She opened her mouth to point this out, but just as quickly snapped it shut. Leanne wasn't stupid or ignorant; she no doubt already knew who and what this man was. Teresa was worried for her mother now, worried that Malfoy would take advantage of the grieving widow, but she couldn't bring that up in front of him.

Malfoy eyed Teresa with an almost hungry look in his eyes. It made her uncomfortable, but she was afraid to say anything. She knew how dangerous he was.

"Come in," he said finally. "There's already a room set up for you."

Teresa followed them to the room but stayed in it only long enough for them to leave. Then she slipped out, determined to explore her new home unhindered.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Please, can you tell us some more of the story?" Isabelle begged. "Please?"

Susan, Carrie, Lucy, and surprisingly shy little Marissa chimed in, adding pleas of their own. Estella smiled.

"Now, I think we were just getting Aida to the princess."

The girls nodded eagerly.

"All right, in that case..."

_Princess Amneris stepped out of her bath, accepting a robe from one of her handmaidens. "It's such hard work maintaining perfection, but worth the effort, don't you think?"_

_"Oh, yes, yes," the girls responded. "You're perfect."_

_"Perfect?" Amneris asked. "Then can someone explain why Radames has been neglecting me? He's been to see my father. I heard he's spent time with his father. But for some reason, the idea of visiting a ripe young princess, with fabulous hair, leaves him cold!"_

_Mereb had entered the room with Aida during Amneris' rant. Now, as the princess turned to him, he bowed._

_"Princess Amneris, first in beauty, wisdom, and accessories_. _Radames has not forgotten you. He knows you will be at the feast tonight in all your extravagant finery. And he can hardly wait. But for now, he sends you this gift."_

_Amneris sighed. "Another handmaiden? I don't need another handmaiden. Does this gift have a name?"_

_"Aida." Aida said._

_Amneris gasped. "Did you just speak?"_

_"My name is Aida, Princess. And I think you might wish to know..."_

_"Are you not afraid of me?" Amneris asked, shocked._

_"Would it please you if I were?"_

_Amneris considered this. "Not so much."_

_Aida smiled. "Then I am doing as you please."_

_"You started to say something about..."_

_"Captain Radames."_

_"What do you know?"_

_"Only that he is well. I thought you might like to know that."_

_"You're very astute, aren't you, Aida?"_

_"Only on occasion. But my true talent lies with a needle. And if you will allow me, Princess, I will make you a robe in a shade closer to that of your eyes. There's a dyeing process I use that makes fabrics glow."_

_Amneris nearly squealed in delight. "A slave who knows her fabrics? I'm keeping her! Oh Radames, he knows me. He really, really knows me. Go, Mereb, show Aida the sewing room. " She turned back to her handmaidens. "All right ladies, let's polish this gem."_

_"In life one has to face a huge assortment  
Of nauseating fads and good advice  
There's health and fitness  
Diet and deportment  
And other pointless forms of sacrifice  
Conversation? Wit? I am a doubter  
Manners? Charm?  
They're no way to impress  
So forget the inner me , observe the outer  
I am what I wear and how I dress  
Oh now I believe in looking  
Like my time on earth is cooking  
Whether polka dotted  
Striped or even checked  
With the some glamour guaranteeing  
Every fiber on of my being  
Is displayed to quite remarkable effect  
From your cradle via trousseau  
To your deathbed you're on view  
So never compromise, accept no substitute  
I would rather wear a barrel  
Than conservative apparel  
For my dress has always been  
My strongest suit  
Overwear  
Underwear  
Anytime  
Anywhere  
Staying in or hitting townwards  
From the top and working downwards  
I ensure that every stitch  
Is stitched in time  
Whether wig or hat or turban Is stitched in time  
Whether clad boudoir or urban  
Not to strut your stuff  
Outrageously's a crime  
Such a crime  
And the few who are invited  
To my wardrobe are delighted  
As they wander through my things  
To find en route  
That in negligee or formal  
I am anything but normal  
For my dress has always been  
My strongest suit  
I am what I wear  
I said anytime  
Anywhere  
So bring me all my finest  
Most audacious, my divinest  
Most revealing, most expensive, and to boot  
Most revealing, most expensive, most arresting  
Most arresting  
Most heartstopping  
Most heartstopping  
Most free-flowing  
Most eye-popping  
Most arresting  
Most heart-stopping  
Dress has always been  
My strongest suit  
My strongest suit  
You know that  
I am what I wear  
Dress has always been  
My __strongest suit  
So bring me all my finest  
Most audacious, my divinest  
Most revealing, most expensive, and to boot  
Most revealing, most expensive, most arresting  
Most heartstopping  
Most free-flowing  
Most eye-popping  
Most arresting  
Most heart-stopping  
Dress has always been  
My strongest suit  
My strongest suit  
You know that  
I am what I wear  
Dress has always been  
My strongest  
My strongest  
My strongest  
My strongest  
My strongest  
__My strongest suit"_

xxxxxxxxxx

Teresa stopped suddenly in the hall when she heard someone start singing. She rolled her eyes when she realized the woman was singing about fashion, of all things, but all the same she was riveted. Who was singing? Where were they? The mystery enticed her.

The song stopped before she had time to do more than contemplate it, but she wasn't deterred. She vowed to keep coming back to this spot until she heard the singing again, and this time she would follow it.

**And now we see why Teresa and Leanne have the same last name.**

**Please review.**

**Also, in case you were wondering how the story's listeners would keep the characters straight when Estella isn't saying their names with each line, I imagine she'd be doing "character voices."**


	7. Chapter Six: My Faith and Trust

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Six:** _**_My Faith and Trust_**

"Mother, I don't like him. He's an escaped prisoner, for Merlin's sake! And he looks at me like - well, I don't know how to say it but it makes me feel odd and I don't like it."

"Teresa Leanne Palmer! Lucius has done us a kind service by allowing us to live here, and I won't have you bad-mouthing him like that!"

"I'm worried about you! And I think Dad would be too!"

Leanne's eyes narrowed almost dangerously. "So that's what this is about. You don't want me seeing anyone because of Damion. Well, let me make this plain and simple. Your father's dead, Teresa, and I don't intend to waste away the rest of my life pining for him."

"But it hasn't even been six months, and you keep acting like he never existed!"

"That is enough! You don't talk to me that way. Learn your place." Leanne stalked angrily out of her daughter's room, leaving the eleven-year-old lying miserably on her bed.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Good morning - well, I'd call you ladies but I believe in using proper terminology." Malfoy's lip curled into a sneer.

"And what do you want?" Estella asked sharply.

"Ah, my girl, funny you should ask that. I want you, of course. But I'm sure you're tired of being the only one. So I've decided to find you a companion. A playmate, if you will. Now, the question is who. All these girls are Mudbloods, none of them quite right."

"If none of them are right, then maybe I shouldn't have a playmate at all," Estella suggested boldly. It was a long shot, but it was the only chance she had.

"But you must have one, my dear," he said, and Estella's heart sank. "Now, we just have to find the best one." He let his eyes rest for a moment on each girl in turn before moving on. When he glanced at Marissa, she whimpered slightly and grabbed hold of Isabelle's hand.

"Bella," she hissed, trembling, unable to get out more than her friend's name. "Bella..."

Malfoy's eyes fixed on the auburn-haired girl. "Your name is Bella?"

"Y-yes."

"Well, I knew another Bella once. You should be honored to have her name, it's too good for a Mudblood. And yet, this does pull you out slightly. Well, _Bella__**,**_ you'll come with me."

"No!" Estella grabbed him by the arm. "No, please, no! You can't do this, she's eight years old! Do you have no decency at all?"

"That's enough from you. Come on." He took Isabelle and shoved her to his guard before grabbing Estella and dragging her out as well.

xxxxxxxxxx

"You still think it's Malfoy, then?" Severus asked.

"Who else would it be? The only question is how he got to her." Regulus sighed. "The only options I can come up with are that he had an accomplice or that he used Polyjuice Potion."

"We asked the students to come to a staff member if they'd seen anyone odd," McGonagall told the group. "A few people did report seeing a strange woman in the castle, but further investigation proved it was the mother of a first-year student visiting her daughter."

"You're sure?" Sirius asked.

"Absolutely. We don't normally allow visits, so the mother had to check in with me first, and every description of the stranger matches her."

"Polyjuice, then," Regulus suggested. "If he'd used a student, no-one would have been able to tell the difference."

"We can't rule that out," Severus agreed.

"I still think it could've been an accomplice," Sirius countered. "Just because no-one saw them doesn't mean they weren't there."

"I don't suppose this has ever happened before, has it?" Sarah interjected. "I mean, if it had, we might at least have somewhere to start."

"The last time students went missing from Hogwarts was just when Voldemort was starting to gain power. The late seventies, I think..."

"Seventy-six," Regulus confirmed.

"And that was from Hogsmeade," Sirius added, "not from the actual castle."

"All the same," Sarah insisted, "it couldn't hurt to go over the details from that time, could it?"

Regulus and Severus glanced at each other; they didn't agree at all. No one else seemed to notice, however, and Hermione, who had been unusually quiet to that point, spoke up.

"You said it was right when Voldemort came to power. Malfoy was one of Voldemort's supporters. I agree with Sarah. We should look at that incident."

"All right," McGonagall began. "Two students went missing during a weekend Hogsmeade trip. It wasn't until that night when anyone noticed they were gone."

"Were - were they ever found?" Hermione asked in a shaky voice that suggested she feared the worst.

"About three months later, both of them turned up just outside the boundary of the Hogwarts grounds - they had been Apparated in after their captors were done with them." McGonagall explained in a slightly disgusted tone.

"Did you ever find out what happened to them in-between?" Hermione asked, oblivious to the fact that Severus had gone pale and that Regulus was clutching his brother's hand for dear life. "I mean, that might be a clue to what happened."

"Some of it," McGonagall said crisply.

"How were they taken?" Sarah asked eagerly, she apparently hadn't noticed her husband's and Severus' reactions either.

"They were removed from the crowd - as I recall one was lured away and the other was taken by force - and then Apparated out."

"Which means that if the same thing happened to Estella, there'd be no real way to track her," Sarah finished sadly.

"You can't Apparate in or out of Hogwarts," Hermione broke in.

"But they could have used a Portkey, which would put us in roughly the same situation," Regulus pointed out in a strained voice, leaning into Sirius' shoulder.

"You don't mean that we'll - well, we'll have to wait for her to just turn up?" Sarah was clearly on the brink of tears.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Regulus promised.

"Harry said he'd come help us tomorrow," Hermione said after an awkward silence. "And Ron's coming too; he's a good strategist, you know. Maybe they'll be able to think of something we haven't come up with yet."

"Let's hope," Regulus mumbled.

"Come on, Reg," Sirius said encouragingly, "between the two of them they're bound to think of something."

Severus snorted. "That pair of dunderheads? I wouldn't be so sure."

"How dare you talk about Harry like that?" Sirius leaped to his feet in anger.

"You obviously never had either of them in a class."

"So they can't make potions with you breathing down their necks, and that's supposed to measure their intelligence?"

"Stop it! Stop it, both of you!" Regulus had gotten to his feet as well and was now standing between his brother and best friend. "This rivalry is stupid, and it's not going to help us find Ellie any quicker."

"Sorry, Reg." Sirius squeezed his brother's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Severus said quietly, giving no indication that he'd heard Sirius apologizing too. "And I'm sorry for saying what I did about Potter and Weasley. I know that isn't what you need to hear right now."

"It's all right, both of you. Just - both of you, please call it a truce at least until we find Ellie."

xxxxxxxxxx

It seemed to the occupants of the cell in Malfoy's fortress to take forever before their two companions were finally returned. Both were crying; Estella's face was flushed with anger as she slumped to the floor, pulling Isabelle into her lap.

"I'm so sorry, Bella," she whispered. "So sorry."

"You didn't do anything," the little girl pointed out. "You kept telling him to stop."

Estella pulled the little girl even closer. "I should've done better."

"You shouldn't be mad at yourself," Isabelle insisted.

"She's right, Ellie," Rose added, sitting down next to the older girl and putting an arm around her shoulders. "You can't go blaming yourself for what Malfoy does."

"Ellie," Isabelle whispered into her shoulder, "can you tell more of the story?"

"Of course I can," she agreed, willing to do anything for the eight-year-old.

_Mereb had hardly entered the Pharaoh's banquet hall when Radames pulled him aside. "Mereb, was the Princess pleased with my gift?"_

_"Yes. Aida managed to make herself indispensable in record time."_

_"I'm not surprised. Did she tell you anything about herself? Because, I've never met a woman like her before."_

_"No!" Mereb said almost too quickly. "Nothing. She said nothing." He hurried away before Radames could ask any more questions, just as Amneris and the Pharaoh came in._

_Radames walked up to Amneris. "You look lovely tonight," he said. "Is this the latest fashion?"_

_She smiled. "It is now. So your expedition went well?"_

_"Oh, yes. We got into territory where no Egyptian has ever set foot."_

_"Really? Maybe next time I'll go with you."_

_"If you like, Princess," he said somewhat uncomfortably. "We sleep with sand mites; live on dried monkey meat; and this time the water was so tainted we vomited for days."_

_"Then again," Amneris said, "I'm pretty busy."_

_Aida found herself pulled aside by a Nubian slave. "Princess, the word of your arrival has spread through the Nubian camps. "_

_Another slave approached her. "Your people cannot wait to see you. Welcome, welcome."_

_"Mereb!" Aida yelled._

_"Okay, so I told one person," Mereb admitted. "Maybe two. Princess, your people need to know!"_

_Pharaoh interrupted this discussion. "Captain. To a successful expedition. Thanks to the routes you have discovered, our troops will now be able to attack Nubia with overwhelming force. The Gods willing, this long war shall soon end, with Egypt's complete and final victory." He turned to his daughter. "Amneris, shall I continue?" At her nod, he did. "Radames. You came to me this morning with a request to set out on another journey. But I have a more important mission for you. Although it means you can never leave Egyptian soil again, I believe this will be a joyous assignment. One I would only trust to a man I have long regarded as a member of my own family."_

_"It has been my privilege to serve you, Your Majesty," Radames responded._

_"As you all know, Captain Radames and my daughter have been betrothed for nine years now. Long enough, I'd say." He laughed, but it turned into a coughing fit. "I want to see her and our nation happily settled before I leave this world. Therefore, in seven days, Radames, son of Zoser, will wed the Princess Amneris. The Son of Isis has spoken."_

_Pharaoh began to cough again,and was quickly escorted out, leaving Radames, his father, Aida, and one other servant in the hall. Zoser approached Radames._

_"A toast to the bridegroom. If I'd known such an awkward young girl would turn into such a stunning young woman, I would have offered for her myself."_

_"It's not too late," Radames replied._

_"I thought you loved Amneris."_

_"I do," Radames insisted. "We grew up together."_

_"Then what is it?" Zoser asked. When Radames didn't answer, he continued. "Radames I've spent years working toward this day. And you are not going to ruin it - not for yourself, or me! Welcome to your new life, son." He hurried away._

_Radames sighed. "Nothing is an accident__  
We are free to have it all  
We are what we want to be  
It's in ourselves to rise or fall  
This is easy to believe  
When distant places call to me  
It's harder from the palace yard  
Fortune favors the free!"_

_He grabbed a cup and threw it as hard as he could. Aida and the other slave turned to leave, but Radames stopped Aida._

_"Where are you from?" he asked._

_"Ikaita. It's a village near..."_

_"Near the Second Cataract," Radames finished. "The river is an entirely different color there."_

_"No," Aida corrected. "It's an entirely different color here."_

_Radames smiled. "Fair enough."_

_Aida smiled too, remembering. "My father and I use to spend days sailing the Nile. He'd let me choose the course. And sometimes I'd even run us aground on purpose, whenever I wanted to see something on the shore."_

_"Did you ever sail north?"_

_"No. My father felt the First Cataract, being so close to the border of Egypt was too dangerous a place to take me."_

_"But there are no Egyptians in the First Cataract. Only these tiny, grassy islands. And the sunlight is different there. In Egypt it is direct and harsh. But there it shimmers. It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen."_

_"Of course," Aida responded. "It's Nubia. I would like to see that part of my country."_

_Radames smiled. "To sail away to half discovered places  
To see the secrets so few eyes have seen  
To see moments of enchantment on our faces  
The moments when we smile and those in between"_

_"Are you talking about Nubia now?" Aida asked._

_"Yes," Radames answered. "In a way."_

_Aida began to fantasize as well. "If I could leave this place then I'd be sailing  
To corners of my land where there would be  
Sweet southern winds of liberty prevailing  
The beauty so majestic and so free"_

_"I will take you sailing," Radames told her. "South. You can be my guide."_

_"Would you let me steer?"_

_"Would you run us aground?"_

_"__Oh yes. Wherever there are no people. I'd jump out of the boat, kick off my sandals and run. And there'd be no one there to scold me and tell me to behave like a good..." She stopped herself. "To behave._

_Radames didn't seem to notice her stop. He was lost in thought, just as she was. _

_"There'd be no ties of time and space to bind me  
And no horizon I could not pursue  
I'd leave the world's misfortunes far behind me  
I'd put my faith and trust in something new  
But why should I tell you this  
A stranger I just met  
A woman whom I hardly know at all and should forget  
A journey we can only dream of  
Enchantment passing through  
And how is it I say these things  
So easily to you."_

_"This is meaningless!" Radames yelled, snapping out of his fantasy. "I'll never take you sailing. I'm never going to leave Egypt again. Instead, I'll sit on the throne and send other men off on their expeditions."_

_"You talk as though you've been enslaved," Aida commented._

_"Not with chains, maybe, but with a marriage promise. What is that for?" he added as Aida began dabbing at her eyes._

_"To dry my weeping eyes. Forced to marry a princess? Oh, what hardships. I know - you want to go to lands where people have been living for centuries and say that you discovered them. But instead, you're being thrust onto the Pharaoh's throne. It is a great tragedy."_

_"You go too far!"_

_"No," Aida corrected. "You go too far. If you don't like your fate, change it. You are your own master. There are no shackles on you. So don't expect any pity or understanding from this humble palace slave." She turned and ran._

_"Stop!" Radames yelled. "I command you, stop!" But it was no use._

_"But why did I tell her this?  
A stranger I've just met  
A woman who I hardly know at all and will forget  
Anonymous and gone tomorrow  
Enchantment passing through  
And all I've done is tell her things  
she already knew  
__She knew  
She knew"_

"And that's where we finish for today," Estella said quietly.

"Then tell me more about Hogwarts," Isabelle said. "Please."

"I've already told you everything I can think of," Estella said quietly.

"Then why don't you tell us more about the magical world in general?" Hannah suggested. "Remember, we really don't know anything."

"All right. So we have a ministry, just like the Muggles do..."

xxxxxxxxxx

Teresa kept to her promise to follow the singing and see where it came from. To her surprise, she found that the woman was no longer singing about fashion. She sang, for a few moments, about freedom. There was a long pause in which Teresa heard someone speaking but couldn't make out what was being said, then another song about freedom, this one even more passionate. Teresa managed to get partway down a flight of stairs from which she could still hear the singing when it stopped. She waited for a long few minutes, but when the singing did not start again, she carefully memorized the spot and left, determined to come back later.

**Please review. Praise is appreciated, as is constructive criticism. I will answer questions unless it means spoiling the ending. So far I have only two reviewers - thanks to ****death wish girl and I'S Watcher!**


	8. Chapter Seven: All We Ask

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Seven: All We Ask**_

"Regulus, what aren't you telling me?" Sarah demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Regulus barely even looked up from the stacks of paper he was going over.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about. There's something you're not telling me, something that has to do with this case. I can't count the number of times when we've been going over this case and you've started getting tense and evasive. Reg, you said you testified at Malfoy's trial. You knew him, didn't you? You must have."

"Yes, I knew him. He was - he was married to Narcissa."

"He was?" Sarah's jaw dropped. "I just - I can't imagine such a sweet, wonderful woman married to a dangerous criminal."

"Arranged marriages used to be common between the old pureblood families, such as the Blacks and the Malfoys. Narcissa's and Lucius' parents arranged their marriage; neither of them had any say."

"And I suppose I'm the only one here who didn't know this?"

"Well, yes, but only because you weren't part of the wizarding world back when they were still married. Cissa doesn't really talk about Lucius; it upsets her too much."

"That isn't it. That can't be it. You wouldn't be so - so strange all the time if that was it. There's something else. What is it, Regulus? What is it? Tell me."

"I don't want to talk about it!" Regulus straightened up, meeting Sarah's eyes for the first time in the conversation. "Why can't you accept that?"

"Fine, then! Don't tell me anything! But I will find out what you're trying to hide from me!"

xxxxxxxxxx

Teresa carefully unplaited the braids in her long black hair before stepping into the bathtub prepared for her by one of Malfoy's house elves. It was far grander than anything she had ever had at her old home, but she didn't like it. It was just another reminder of how much her life had changed.

"Enjoying yourself, darling?" Teresa looked up, startled, to see Malfoy standing in the doorway.

"Yes, thank you, sir," she said woodenly.

"Now, now, it's very hard for me to talk to you when you're all the way down there." Malfoy indicated the bathtub, which was below the level of the floor. "Come on out here. No need for that," he added as she made to grab for a towel. "I'm as good as your father now, you don't need to hide from me."

Slowly, reluctantly, Teresa stepped out of the tub, allowing him to see her fully unclothed figure.

"You're beautiful," he told her, staring with hungry eyes. "So beautiful. So like your mother. But you've been crying, haven't you? Whatever for?"

"I don't like it here!" she yelled defiantly. "I want to go home!"

"Oh, honey, I know it's hard. Come here." He opened his arms to her.

"You're not mad?"

"No, no. Now come here."

A voice in the back of Teresa's mind was warning her not to trust him, but she shoved that aside and stepped into his arms. To her surprise, instead of embracing her, he allowed his hands to explore her naked body, one of them coming to rest between her legs.

"What - what are you doing! Leave me alone!" She shoved him away, grabbing a towel to wrap around herself. "I'll tell Mother. I will."

"Do you really think she'd believe you over me? Besides, I'm as good as your daddy now. I have a right to touch you."

"Dad never touched me like that! Not only that, but he always told me never to let anyone touch me like that."

He slapped her firmly. "Your father's dead, Teresa Palmer! I'm your father now, and I have the right to do whatever I want to you! Think about that." He turned and stalked out of the room.

Teresa waited until he was clear before running into her bedroom and dressing as fast as she could. Then she collapsed onto her bed, curled up into a tight ball, and allowed her tears to flow.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Shh, Bella, I'm here," Estella soothed, holding the little girl close. She bit back the instinct to say that it was all right. She knew it wasn't.

Malfoy had been particularly rough on the two girls that day, alternately abusing them sexually and using the Cruciatus Curse on them. He seemed to realize that Estella was more upset by seeing the little girl hurt than by being hurt herself, and had used that to the fullest extent. The girls now sat in the cell, with Estella holding Isabelle and trying to comfort her. In desperation, Estella tried the one thing that might work to comfort the eight-year-old.

"Do you want to hear the next piece of Aida?"

Isabelle nodded against the older girl's chest, and the other girls quickly voiced their agreement.

_Aida entered Amneris' quarters to find the Princess brushing her hair. _

_"Here, let me." She took the brush and began to brush Amneris' hair for her. "How is your father?"_

_"__I don't understand it," Amneris answered. "This illness of his came on so suddenly. Weeks ago he was healthy. And the court physicians, they have no idea what it is. Well, it was a magnificent feast, though, wasn't it? Oh, there is so much to do to get ready for the wedding ceremony. From the bronzed entry statue of me, to the centerpieces of lilies and roses arranged to look like me..."_

_"It must be difficult," Aida commented._

_"Planning a wedding?" Amneris asked._

_"No," Aida corrected. "Being a princess."_

_"Oh, you have no idea," Amneris admitted. "The responsibilities are... overwhelming."_

_"Your people must expect so much."_

_"They want a goddess," Amneris answered, "and I'm only..."_

_"Human," Aida finished._

_Amneris nodded in agreement. "__I may leave a great impression  
As I race through a succession  
Of the latest crazes, chase the newest fad  
I feel better when beguiling  
Find that fashion keeps me smiling__  
But in my heart I know it's rather sad.  
That a life of great potential  
Is dismissed, inconsequential  
And only ever seen as being cute  
So I'll flutter to deceive  
Oh no you must believe  
That one day you're bound to find  
A stronger suit."_

_Radames walked in at that point, startling both women._

_"Radames!" Amneris gasped. "This is my bedchamber. You can't just... you know you shouldn't... Aida, leave."_

_"No," Radames countered. "Stay. Pour the Princess a glass of wine."_

_"Are you trying to get me drunk, Radames?" Amneris asked. "You know it's not necessary."_

_"Is that your bed in there?" he asked._

_"Silk-covered and fat with feathers."_

_"Why don't you go in and I'll join you in a moment."_

_"Radames, are you sure?" she asked. "We're going to be married in a week."_

_"Amneris," he pointed out, "we've been engaged nine years."_

_"Good point." Amneris bolted into the bedroom, and Radames turned to Aida._

_"You think you can speak to me like that?" he demanded. "Scold me like a shrew then walk away? You forget that I can have you carried off to the copper mines."_

_"And you forget that I am her property now," Aida snapped, "not yours."_

_"It doesn't matter. Because I know now that you were right." At Aida's look, he added, "What?"_

_"I'm shocked. Even in enlightened Nubia, one never hears a man admit he's wrong "_

_"Radames!" Amneris called from the bedroom. "I'm ready."_

_"I'll be right in," he called to her. Then he turned back to Aida. "Aida, I was wrong. I have been selfish. If Pharaoh does not recover, Egypt is going to need a new leader. A strong leader. And I don't think that is Amneris."_

_As if on cue, Amneris' voice rang out again. "Radames, I'm waiting!"_

_"You should go to her," Aida told him._

_"Were you a noblewoman before you were captured?" he asked, ignoring her statement._

_"What does it matter?" she asked. "There's nothing noble about me now."_

_"You're wrong. You are noble and courageous. Very few of us dare to speak so honestly. And considering you're a slave -"_

_"Yes," Aida interrupted. "We mustn't ever forget that I'm a slave."_

_"I cannot take back the past," Radames argued, "and even if I could I am not sure I'd want to. Aida, I-"_

_But whatever he was going to say was cut off when Amneris barreled back into the room, covered only in a blanket. "Radames! You barge into my bedchamber, waging a full-frontal attack, so to speak... and now you're stalling. Why?"_

_"I'm sorry," Radames replied, avoiding her question. "I didn't realize-"_

_"There's a buck-naked princess lounging in her bed, calling your name. What exactly didn't you realize? Before our wedding night, pack up some of that dried monkey meat and have the royal cartographer draw you a map of the female body, Captain. Maybe then you'll be more inclined to come explore."_

_Radames stormed out and Amneris turned to Aida. "Was it something I said?When we were children we understood each other so well. Now he's a mystery to me." She returned to her bed, and Aida ventured out into the halls, where she was found by Mereb._

_"Aida, there you are. Will you come with me?"_

_"Where?" she asked._

_"The Nubian camp. Look, everybody knows that I'm the one who can get things. And our people... They've asked me to bring them... you."_

_"Why?" Aida demanded. "So they can see a reckless fool dressed as a servant? That is what I am, Mereb. My father told me not to leave the boundaries of our village, but I could not be so constrained. I took Nehebka and the other women up the river. And that's where the Egyptians captured us. I deserve this. And our people deserve a leader who thinks of them. Not of her own selfish pleasures."_

_"Aida, they want their princess," Mereb insisted._

_Aida allowed Mereb to bring her to the slave camp, but even as she did, she voiced her fears to him._

_"It's knowing what they want of me that scares me  
It's knowing having followed that I must lead  
It's knowing that each person there compares me  
To those in my past whom I now succeed  
But how can whatever I do for them now  
Be enough.  
Be enough."_

_They had reached the Nubian camp by now, and upon seeing Aida, they all but threw themselves at her feet.  
_

_"Aida! Aida!  
All we ask of you  
Is a lifetime of service, wisdom, courage  
To ask more would be selfish  
But nothing less will do  
Aida! Aida!"_

_Nehebka, Aida's old friend, approached her with a robe they had managed to make from scraps of cloth._

_"Your robe should be golden, your robe should be perfect  
Instead of this ragged concoction of thread  
But may you be moved by its desperate beauty  
To give us new life for we'd rather be dead  
Then live in the squalor and shame of the slave  
To the dance!  
To the dance!  
Aida! Aida!  
All we ask of you  
All we ask is a lifetime of  
Service, wisdom, courage  
To ask more would be selfish  
But nothing less will do  
Aida! Aida!"_

_Aida took a deep breath. She knew what she had to do._

_"I know expectations are wild and almost  
Beyond my fulfillment but they won't hear  
A word of a doubt or see signs of weakness  
My nigh on impossible duty is clear  
If I can rekindle my ancestors' dreams  
It's enough  
It's enough  
It's enough  
It's enough!"_

"Is that it?" Sophie asked.

"Yes, it is," Estella told her.

"You know, Ellie," Rose commented, "you're a lot like Aida."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. You're trapped here with us, just like Aida was, but you have something that sets you apart - in Aida's case, it was her noble birth; in yours, it's that you've studied magic. And just like Aida, even though you're in as bad a situation as we are, you still take it upon yourself to help."

"You really think I'm like Aida?"

"I don't just think. I know."

"Well - thanks. That really means a lot."

xxxxxxxxxx

Teresa listened as the music faded. It was strange, she thought. Every day she'd been listening, it had been the same exact voice singing, she was sure of it. And yet, each day, the song was about something completely different.

If only she could find out who it was.

**Please review. This is a lot of work for me, I'd hope you could take a few seconds to acknowledge me for it, even if it's just a simple "I like this" or "I don't like this." I won't threaten not to update, but seriously, please review. I want to know how I'm doing.**

**On another note, you'll notice I changed the rating warning in the prologue from "implied rape" to "rape." When I wrote the warning, I didn't think I would actually be showing the rape/molestation scenes the way I have. Sorry for anyone who got hit with more than they were expecting.**


	9. Chapter Eight: Seems Quite Unbelievable

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is either Estella's rendition of Aida or the court record.

_**Chapter Eight: Seems Quite Unbelievable**_

"But Mother, please, listen to me!" Teresa pleaded.

"I don't like liars, Teresa Leanne Palmer," the older woman snapped sharply. "I know you miss your father, but that doesn't give you the right to make unfounded accusations against any other man in my life. I chose Lucius, get over it."

"But Mother, I'm telling the truth."

"That's enough out of you." Leanne slapped her daughter firmly across the face. "You will not make up blatant falsehoods against the man who has given us so much."

xxxxxxxxxx

Sarah hastily sorted through the stacks of paperwork they had acquired after Estella's kidnapping. Regulus still refused to tell her what he was hiding, and she had a feeling that the answer lay in the official record of Malfoy's trial. Regulus had testified at the trial, but he wouldn't say about what. There had to be more to their relationship than Malfoy's marriage to Narcissa, but every time this was mentioned he clammed up and tried to change the subject, and when that didn't work he outright refused to answer.

"Yes! Found it!" she whispered triumphantly as she pulled the court record from the stack. She hurriedly replaced the papers she had moved in her search and sat down with the coveted file.

"Testimony of Draco Malfoy... Testimony of Narcissa Malfoy... Testimony of Harry Potter... Testimony of Ginny Weasley... Ah, here we are. Testimony of Regulus Black."

_Please state your name and age for the record._

_Regulus Arcturus Black, thirty-seven years old._

_Mr. Black, my records state that you claim to have been raped repeatedly by Lucius Malfoy, along with other Death Eaters, for a period of approximately two-and-a-half years. Is this correct?_

_Yes, it is._

Sarah drew in a sharp breath. So _this_ was what Regulus had been hiding.

_When did this begin?_

_I believe that it was January 1977. I had been captured by several Death Eaters on December 18th, 1976, and by the first assault I had lost track of time._

_You stated earlier that you were raped by multiple Death Eaters. Was Lucius Malfoy the first? Did he encourage the others?_

_It was him and Rudolphus Lestrange. They came together into the cell where I was being held, stripped me, tied me down, and then raped me. I don't know which was first. I don't want to know. And yes, he encouraged the others. He and Rudolphus began bringing other people down to the cell, to watch and participate._

Sarah didn't really want to read any more, but at the same time she couldn't tear her eyes away.

_When were you released?_

_After roughly three months._

_Why were you released?_

_I agreed to join Voldemort's Death Eaters out of desperation and because I thought I might be able to bring them down from the inside._

_You claim Malfoy continued to rape you after you were released. How did he manage this?_

_He and the others did it sometimes when we were in Voldemort's hideout but were not actively doing anything. In addition, both Malfoy and Lestrange were married to my cousins, and were often invited to our home by my mother. Bellatrix Lestrange helped to secure these frequent visits - she knew what Lucius and her husband were doing._

"Sarah? What are you doing in here?" Sirius' head poked in through the door. He quickly noticed that she had tears streaming down her face and entered the room fully to sit next to her. "What's wrong?"

"It's - Regulus - I got sick of not knowing anything so I - I went and looked at the court records to find out what he was trying to hide-"

"You saw the record?" Sirius repeated. "Sweet Merlin, Sarah."

"Why didn't he ever say anything?" she sobbed. "I thought he'd been involved in something Malfoy was doing - something he wasn't proud of - not that he was -"

"What you have to understand is that Regulus never really talks to anyone about what happened to him. The first time Malfoy and Lestrange did it here, he tried to tell our mother and she told him it was his fault."

"What? That's awful!"

"I know. But the result of that was that he didn't tell anyone else for more than two years; he was afraid he'd get blamed again. James found out by accident, and it was him who managed to talk Regulus around. Reg told me, and he got up the guts to speak in court, but he still never really talks about it unless he has to."

"I need to find him. We need to talk." She started to leave the room, but Sirius stopped her.

"Sarah."

"Yes?"

"Be gentle with him."

"I will," she promised, and then she left.

xxxxxxxxxx

"He hasn't come yet," Isabelle said quietly. "Maybe he won't come today."

"Maybe." Estella hardly dared hope. "I just wish I knew for sure, one way or the other. I can't stand waiting like this."

"Ellie," Marissa said quietly, "what if you told us more of the story? Just to help us wait."

"Is that what everyone else wants?"

Her question was greeted with a chorus of approval.

"All right, then."

_Aida stood on the riverbank, washing clothing with the other slaves. Radames stood nearby, in deep discussion with a soldier. Noticing Aida, he dismissed the soldier and walked up to her._

_"__You were watching me again," he commented. All week your eyes have been on me. Do you think you're going to gain your freedom, just because you've gained my attention? You are beautiful, but I am not so easily led."_

_"If I've looked in your direction, it was only to see if your chalice needed refilling," she answered icily._

_"I have no chalice now," he pointed out, "and yet, you're looking."_

_"Excuse me, Captain," she snapped. "I have linen to wash."_

_"I do not excuse you," he countered. "Stop there."_

_"You wanted something from me, Captain?"_

_"Oh yes. I want to make your life easier, Aida. Tell me how. What can I do for you?"_

_"Help my people."_

_"I want to help you."_

_"I am my people.," she replied. "And I cannot continue to live in the comfort of the palace while my countrymen are dying. You want my 'affection,' captain?"_

_"I can have your 'affection' right here if I command it."_

Estella grimaced slightly at that line before continuing.

"_I want to know if you feel anything for me - aside from contempt."_

_"I don't know," she admitted._

_"Then let's find out." He pulled her to him and kissed her, just as Mereb approached them._

_"Aida, I just saw-" he stammered. "Aida, Amneris requests your presence. The princess... "_

_Aida hurried off, leaving Radames to contemplate._

_"I once knew all the answers  
I stood on certain ground  
A picture of true happiness  
Of confidence so effortless  
No brighter could be found  
I never asked the questions  
That trouble me today  
I knew all there was to know  
Love worn lightly  
Put on show  
My conquests on display.  
And who'd have thought  
That confidence could die?  
Not me, not me  
That all I took for granted was a lie  
Not me, not me  
And who'd have guessed  
I'd throw my world away  
To be with someone I'm afraid will say  
Not me, not me."_

_Mereb watched his beloved master with concern. "He's in love  
But he's not the only one  
Who'll be changed."_

_Aida and Amneris walked past them at this point, carrying purchases from the market._

_"This would be lovely on you," Aida said, examining a bolt of cloth. "I'll say this for you Egyptians; your thread count is amazing."_

_"Why hasn't Radames come to see me again?" Amneris wondered. "We're to be married in three days and yet... Aida, I must make things right with him."_

_Aida sighed. "I shall not envy lovers  
But long for what they share."_

_Amneris was lost in thought as well. "An empty room is merciless  
Don't be surprised if I confess  
__I need some comfort there.  
And who'd have thought  
That love could be so good?  
Not me, not me  
And show me things I never understood  
Not me, not me  
Who'd have guessed he'd  
Throw his world away  
To be with someone til his dying day  
Not me, not me."_

_All of a sudden, Nehebka, Aida's friend, ran by with her arms full of things._

_"Nehebka, where did you get that?" Aida asked._

_"The Egyptian Captain!" Nehebka told her. "He's giving away everything he owns. And he's giving it all to us!"_

_Radames came by then as well, still giving out his possessions. All three of them - Aida, Amneris, and Radames - found themselves transfixed by the power of love._

_"And who'd have thought  
That love could be so good  
Not me, not me  
My secrets and  
My passions understood  
Not me, not me  
And who'd have guessed  
I'd throw my world away  
To be with someone til my dying day  
Not me, not me."_

_"Look," Amneris cried, "he is preparing to move into the Palace. So, whatever doubts he had the other night must be gone." Suddenly, she became shy. "But you stay, Aida. Apologize for me. "_

_"Oh, no," she protested. "I can't."_

_"You can," Amneris argued. "You always say the right thing. I never do."_

_"Princess, please," Aida begged. "Don't make me."_

_"I would never make you. But I am asking you, as my friend."_

_And finally, Aida nodded. Amneris rushed off, and Aida approached Radames._

_"Thank you," she said._

_"It was nothing," he replied. "Well, actually, it was everything. But it doesn't matter."_

_"Captain," Aida said hurriedly, "I just came to tell you that the princess is sorry for what she said the other night."_

_"Aida -" Radames reached out and took her hand._

_She jerked back. "You are betrothed to my mistress!"_

_"It was arranged by my father," he argued, "and it will be unarranged by me!"_

_"You could raid another country tomorrow and rebuild your fortune," she protested. "Radames, you're an Egyptian! Nothing will ever change that fact. I don't even know why you bothered to do this."_

_"Don't you?" he asked quietly, and as Aida stopped to look at him, he seized his chance._

_"We all lead such elaborate lives  
wild ambitions in our sights  
How an affair of the heart survives  
days apart and hurried nights  
Seems quite unbelievable to me  
I don't want to live like that  
Seems quite unbelievable to me  
I don't want to love like that  
I just want our time to be  
Slower and gentler, wiser, free  
We all live in extravagant times  
Playing games we can't all win  
Unintened emotional crimes  
Take some out, take others in  
I'm so tired of all we're going through  
I don't want to live like that  
I'm so tired of all we're going through  
I don't want to love like that  
I just want to be with you  
Now and forever, peaceful,true  
This may not be the moment  
To tell you face to face  
__But I could wait forever  
For the perfect time and place.  
We all lead such elaborate lives  
We don't know whose words are true  
Strangers, lovers, husbands, wives  
Hard to know who's loving who  
Too many choices tear us apart  
I don't want to live like that  
Too many choices tear us apart  
I don't want to love like that  
I just want to touch your heart  
May this confession  
Be the start."_

_And finally, Aida allowed herself to accept her feelings for him. She fell into his arms, as if nothing else mattered._

"Please tell me that's not the end," Hannah said.

"No, it's not. It's not even the end of the first act."

The door banged open to reveal a guard, who immediately grabbed Marissa. "You're to come with me."

The girl's muffled protests were ignored as she was dragged out and the door closed behind her.

"Oh, God," Rose whispered. "I hope it's not one of those."

"One of what?" Estella asked.

"Every once in a while, the guards take her and she comes back a total mess, horribly hurt. Always her, never anyone else, not like that. I don't know what they do to her - frankly, I'm not sure I want to."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Reg?" Sarah tentatively approached her husband. "Can I - can we talk?"

"Sure. Is something the matter? You're crying."

"Oh, am I?" She wiped her eyes distractedly. "Well, it's - I-wanted-to-know-what-you-were-hiding-so-I-looked-at-the-court-record." She blurted the story out before she could stop herself.

"Oh, Merlin, Sarah," he whispered. "You saw that?"

She nodded. "I'm so sorry this happened. And I'm sorry for pushing you so hard to tell something so painful."

"You didn't know; I didn't want you to. I wanted to protect you."

"Protect _me_?"

"From sharing my pain. From having to experience even a shell of what I went through. It was hell, Sarah, plain and simple. Two years of hell, and I never wanted to bring it up, for both our sakes."

"Oh, Regulus. Come here." She wrapped her arms around him, allowing him to take comfort from her.

"All I can say," Regulus managed through his tears, "is that if Malfoy hurts Estella like that, he'd better hope his holding cell is good. Otherwise I'll kill him with my bare hands."

**Three days. I think that's a record for me. So how about you reward my hard work by reviewing, huh? Please? With a virtual cherry on top?**

**Also, can anyone guess what it is that happens to Marissa, and only Marissa? Hint: the date for this chapter is December 17th, 2013. Leave guesses in a review.**


	10. Chapter Nine: I Shall Never Understand

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida or Teresa's letter.

_**Chapter Nine: I Shall Never Understand  
**_

The girls were woken early by the sound of the door slamming open. A guard stepped in, threw a limp bundle on the floor, and stepped back out. The door slammed shut.

"What the -" Estella sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She glanced at the bundle, a mess of filthy cloth and black hair - black hair? "Marissa!"

Her cry brought Rose, Hannah, and Isabelle instantly to full awareness. The four girls raced to Marissa's side.

"What in God's name did they do?" Rose asked, horrified. The girl was covered in blood and bruises. "This is the worst I've ever seen it."

"I wish we had some sort of access to medical care," Estella lamented. "Even my school's nurse could fix her up in no time. But here - these could get worse without treatment, and we have no way to treat them." She shrugged out of her outer robe and wrapped the little girl in it. "That's the best I can do."

"Ellie?" Marissa's eyes fluttered open. "Bella?"

"We're right here, both of us," Estella promised. "What happened to you?"

"I - I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

"Don't press it," Hannah told her. "We've asked before, and she always gives the same answer."

Estella sighed. Something wasn't adding up, but she couldn't figure out what it was, so she didn't say anything. She took the injured child in her arms, cradling her gently.

"Ellie?" Marissa whispered. "Can you - could you - maybe you could tell -"

"A bit more of the story?" Estella finished. "Of course I can."

_Aida lay in Radames' arms, several hours after they declared their love for one another. Happy though she was, she couldn't help shivering in the cold night air. "You could have at least kept a blanket."_

_"No," he corrected her, "I could not. __Man enters this world naked, without possessions. I want to be a new man for you, Aida."_

_A loud drum sounded. Aida jumped. "What was that?"_

_"My armies have returned. Pharaoh will expect a victory celebration. Go back to the palace. You'll be safe there." Radames stood up, then removed a charm from his neck. "If anyone stops you, show them this and they'll let you pass."_

_"I love you," she said quietly._

_"I heard that." Radames turned to Aida with a smile. "Say it again. I command you!" She only laughed. "I command -" he repeated, but was suddenly cut off._

_"Captain!" called a soldier._

_"I heard the drums," Radames said impatiently._

_"But we've captured the Nubian king!" the soldier cried triumphantly._

_"The king?" Radames repeated, oblivious to Aida's look of horror. "You have taken him alive? Find out which men are responsible for this. I'll see they receive the highest honors. Tell the others I'm on my way." As the soldier left, he turned back to Aida. "Our countries are at war. I can't change that."_

_"But he's my -" she stopped just short of revealing her deepest secret. "He's my king," she finished instead._

_Radames left, guilt weighing heavily on him. At the same time, Aida was surrounded by the other Nubians._

_"Princess!" cried Aida's friend, Nehebka. "Say it's not true!"_

_"I saw our king dragged through the streets with my own eyes," said another Nubian._

_"I heard they've already executed him," cried someone else._

_"And they're carrying his head throughout the city on the end of a spike!"_

_"No!" Aida cried, horrified._

_"Amonasro of Nubia is alive." Mereb pushed through the crowd. "I saw him taken to the prison."_

_"But it's only a matter of time before the Egyptians slaughter him," Nehebka sobbed._

_"I always imagined that your father would march upon Egypt in triumph," said another slave. "But now we have no hope. When the king dies - so does Nubia."_

_"Nubia will never die!" Aida protested. "Whether we are enslaved or whether we are far from our native soil, Nubia lives in our hearts. And therefore, it lives._

_"Take me in my dreams recurring  
Cheerful as a childhood dance  
Into one more taste of freedom  
One more longing backward glance  
In the sway of somber music  
I shall never, never understand  
Let me slip into the sweeter  
Chorus of that other land  
The gods love Nubia, the beautiful, the golden  
The radiant, the fertile, the gentle and the blessed  
The pain of Nubia is only for the moment  
the desolate the suffering  
the plundered, the oppressed  
The gods love Nubia, their glorious creation  
Its songs roll sweetly across the harvest plain  
The tears of Nubia, a passing aberration  
They wash into the river and are never cried again  
The gods love Nubia, we have to keep believing  
The scattered and divided, we are still its heart  
The fall of Nubia is ephemeral and fleeting  
The spirit always burning though the flesh is torn apart.  
Take me in my dreams recurring  
Cheerful as a childhood dance  
Into one more taste of freedom  
One more longing backward  
One more longing backward glance  
The gods love Nubia, the beautiful, the golden  
The radiant, the fertile, the gentle and the blessed  
The pain of Nubia is only for the moment  
the desolate the suffering  
the plundered, the oppressed  
The gods love Nubia  
We have to keep believing  
Though scattered and divided, we are still its heart__  
The fall of Nubia is ephemeral and fleeting  
The spirit always burning though the flesh is torn apart  
The spirit always burning though the flesh is torn apart  
Take me in my dreams recurring  
One more longing backward glance."_

xxxxxxxxxx

Teresa's bare feet made no sound against the stone floor. It was earlier than anyone would expect her to be awake, but she'd been hearing strange noises all night that had prevented her from screaming. Then she'd heard the singing and decided to follow it at this hour, when there was less chance of getting caught. She followed it right up to a door - a door that had been securely locked. She stood by it, listening to the music and then to quiet voices - a conversation she couldn't follow. She wanted to stay, to try and figure out what was behind the door, but it was getting late enough that people were starting to move about, and she didn't dare risk being caught. She managed to slip back to her room and fall into her bed unnoticed. She tried to fall back asleep, but her fear of Lucius kept her on edge.

If only she had a way out.

xxxxxxxxxx

Despite his ever-increasing anxiety, Regulus couldn't help being impressed with the level of cooperation exhibited by those working on the case. He knew, of course, that his brother and Severus were lifelong enemies, and that Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy were far from the best of friends, and yet all four of them sat in his living room and not a single argument had started. It was true that both pairs kept their distance from each other, but they seemed to be making a marked effort to keep the peace in light of the situation.

"I feel like we're missing something," Hermione said as she set aside yet another stack of papers.

"That's why we're going over these files multiple times," Ron pointed out. "It's so we catch anything we might have missed."

"Not in the files." Hermione sighed, frustrated. "There's something else - I feel like I _should_ know what it is, but I don't. There's something I'm missing - something we're all missing - something that would make this all make sense."

"Maybe it's wishful thinking," Draco suggested. "I know I feel the same way. Maybe we just _want_ there to be something, one little missing piece that would solve this if we could just find out what it is - because then at least we'd have somewhere to start."

"Maybe," Hermione admitted, "but I don't think so."

"Either way, the existence of one piece of vital information won't help us if we can't figure out what it is," Regulus pointed out. "Let's get back to looking. If that one vital piece does exist, maybe something we find will trigger a memory. And if not - we need all the information we can get."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Look! There's an owl." Lydia pointed out the window at a large barn owl, which swooped gracefully into the room, dropping a letter on the couch before taking off again.

"It's from Teresa." Katherine picked up the parchment and unfolded it. The letter was short, only a few lines.

_Dear Katie and Lydia,_

_Something's wrong here. I'm scared. Mother's with someone else and I don't like him. I keep trying to tell her but she doesn't listen. I can't write anymore, if anyone here sees this I'm in trouble. Don't write back. I'll talk to you at school._

_Teresa_

"Something's wrong," Katherine stated.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Beyond the obvious. Look. _If anyone here sees this I'm in trouble._ That's a sign of a major problem."

"But what do we do?"

"Wait. If we don't hear from her again soon, we tell Dad."

**Please review. I'm kinda disappointed that no one gave me any guesses about Marissa.**

**I know this is kind of short, but I don't want to overdo the abuse scenes - to me, that feels like trivializing something very serious - and there wasn't much else to put in. **

**I'm estimating seven more chapters including an epilogue.  
**


	11. Chapter Ten: A Life Turned On Its Head

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Ten: A Life Turned On Its Head  
**_

Katherine turned again in her bed. No matter what she tried, she couldn't seem to get to sleep. Finally giving up, she threw back the covers, put on her slippers, and headed for the kitchen. Maybe she could make herself something that would help her sleep. She wasn't entirely surprised to find that the kitchen was already occupied.

"Couldn't you sleep either?" Lydia asked, looking over her shoulder.

"I can't stop thinking about that letter," Katherine said quietly. "She seemed so scared. And why wouldn't she be allowed to write to us?"

"Maybe it's that man she wrote about - the one her mother's seeing."

"But why wouldn't he want her to write?" If anything, Katherine was just getting more agitated. "Clearly, there's something he wants to keep hidden."

"If I didn't think there was something wrong, I wouldn't be sitting awake now!" Lydia snapped.

"I'm not saying that!"

"You think you're the only one who's worried? She's _my_ dorm-mate!"

"And that somehow gives you special status over me?"

"Young Mistresses had best stop this arguing before they is waking whole house." Kreacher, the Black family's aged house-elf, stepped out of the cupboard next to the stove he slept in.

"I'm so sorry, did we wake you?" Lydia gasped. "We were just - we're both on edge and we sort of started taking it out on each other."

"Kreacher is knowing everyone is on edge. Young Mistresses is missing their sister."

"That's part of it," Katherine explained, "and then we got a really concerning letter from a friend of ours, and I guess that was just the straw that broke the camel's back."

"Kreacher is understanding. Now, perhaps young Mistresses would be liking some hot chocolate?"

xxxxxxxxxx

"Both of you, come with me. And I think," Malfoy paused, glancing around the room, "one more."

"No! You can't do that!" Estella leaped to her feet. "Look, it's me you're upset with, so take me. But leave them alone."

"Now, I couldn't do that. You can't always be alone. Besides," he added in a suddenly harsh voice, "by hurting your Mudblood friends, I'm hurting you more than anything I could do with you alone would."

Estella was tempted to contradict him again, but she bit her tongue. She knew he was right, and the more she argued for the other girls, the more she would prove his point.

"You." His steely eyes fixed on Hannah. "Come on."

"Oh, Hannah," Estella whispered. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"Don't. Don't you see, you're doing exactly what he wants."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know. But whatever you do, don't let him win."

"Come in," Malfoy snapped, not even giving the girls time to act of their own accord before shoving them through the door. "Now, let's have some fun."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Dad, I - we need to talk to you." Katherine hesitantly poked her head into the room where her parents, along with many other people the girls had come to know, sat working. "Can we come in?"

"Of course. What's wrong?"

"We - Lydia and I - got a letter from our friend, and we're worried."

"Do you have this letter?"

Lydia pulled the letter from her pocket and handed it to her father. "It's really short - and it's really vague, but there's enough there to get us concerned."

"I should say so." Regulus finished reading the letter. "Is it okay if I let some of the others see it?" At Lydia's nod, he handed it to his best friend. "What you make of this, Sev?"

Severus looked up from the letter in shock. "Teresa Palmer?"

"You know her?" Sirius asked.

"She's in my house. I'm shocked at this, I have to say. Teresa's mother came all the way up to the school to ask her to return home for Christmas. I can't believe she'd suddenly let something serious happen."

"Oh!" gasped Hermione suddenly.

"What?" Regulus asked. "What is it?"

"We've been going about this all wrong. I know what I was missing. The answer was right there, we just didn't see it. This woman - the girl's mother - was _in the school_ the day Ellie was kidnapped, you mentioned it before. Isn't that just a bit odd to be a coincidence?"

"You're not saying -" Sirius began.

"I am. Ellie was kidnapped by this girl's mother. The mother then took Ellie to her boyfriend -"

"Lucius Malfoy," Harry finished.

"And now Teresa's in the house with Malfoy also." Severus added.

"Sweet Merlin." Draco moaned, putting his face in his hands. "That poor child."

"Draco?" Lydia asked worriedly. "What's wrong with Teresa? Is she okay?"

"I don't know," Draco answered honestly.

"I promise you girls that we'll do everything we can to make sure she's safe," Regulus promised. "If we're right, she's in the same place as your sister. And now we have another lead to finding both of them."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hello, my beautiful one," Malfoy crooned to Teresa. "Did you miss me? I'm back now."

"No, no, please, leave me alone." She tried to back away but got only a half-step before hitting the wall. "I'll scream."

"And who will help you here?"

"My mother! My mother's here!"

"And you really think she cares about you? I'm the one she loves, the one she's always loved. Not you and not," his face was close enough to hers that she could feel his breath, "your blood-traitor of a father."

"You're lying," she whispered.

"Ask her." Malfoy's hand slipped under her skirt and into the waistband of her underwear. "But first, I want you."

"I'm eleven , and I'm your girlfriend's daughter. How disgusting -" She was cut off as he pressed his mouth into hers. She tried to fight him off but he was using the wall to his advantage.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered. "So beautiful. Touch me."

"What?"

He lowered his pants. "Touch me. Let me feel those wonderful hands of yours."

"No! I won't."

He quickly got one hand around her neck. "Do it."

Teresa knew that he wasn't making an idle threat. Her eyes filled with tears as she nodded. "Okay."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Why don't you just give him what he wants?" Julie demanded. "Stop letting us get hurt."

"Come off it!" Rose snapped. "You seriously think that'll work? If she gives him what he wants, he'll ask for something else. And even when he can't come up with anything to ask for, he'll still hurt her and us because he _likes_ it. Because it makes him _happy_. Nothing Ellie does will change that. Now before we really jump down each other's throats, let's pick up on the story."

Ellie nodded, surprised by the sudden turn the conversation had taken but understanding Rose's point.

_Just two days away from her wedding, Amneris was increasingly picking up the signs that all was not as it should be with her relationship. She and Radames had been increasingly distant for years, but now, now ..._

_"It's so strange he doesn't show me  
more affection than he needs  
Almost formal too respectful  
never takes romantic leads  
There are times when I imagine  
I'm not always on his mind  
He's not thinking what I'm thinking  
Always half a step behind  
Always half a step behind  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh"_

_Radames, meanwhile, felt the opposing pulls of duty and love. He knew he must marry Amneris; it was what was expected of him. But he knew his heart would forever belong to Aida - a Nubian slave who had meant nothing to him mere days ago._

_"I'm in every kind of trouble  
Can't you tell, just look at me  
Half ecstatic, half dejected  
All in all I'm all at sea  
Easy terms I thought I wanted  
Fill me now with chilling dread  
You could never know the chaos  
Of a life turned on its head  
Of a life turned on its head  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh"_

_Aida felt much the same pull as Radames did. She loved him; loved him with every fiber of her being. But she knew Radames was to marry Amneris, and that she needed to support her people above all else, now that her father could not._

_"I am certain that I love him  
But a love can be misplaced  
Have I compromised my people  
In my passion and my haste?  
I could be his life companion  
Anywhere but where we are  
Am I leader? Am I traitor?  
Did I take a step too far?  
Did I take a step too far?  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Oh,oh,oh,oh  
Did I take a step too far?"_

_Aida was now beside Mereb, sneaking into the dungeon to see her father._

_"Aida," King Amnosoro breathed when he saw her. "__I knew you would survive. That I trained my daughter well. At least, I would not allow myself to believe anything else."_

_"Have they mistreated you?" she asked._

_"No, I believe they are saving that part for my execution. Three days from now."_

_"It won't come to that," Aida promised. "We'll get you out of here."_

_"In two days, the daughter of the Pharaoh will wed," Mereb broke in. "Most of the guards will be needed to control the crowds."_

_Amnosoro turned to Mereb, noticing him for the first time. "And who is this young Minister of War?"_

_"Mereb. You remember, Henu's boy."_

_"Henu." Amnosoro nodded in recognition. "Your father was a great warrior. He had hopes you would grow up to be a scholar."_

_"Sire," Mereb said urgently. "The chief jailor will attend Amneris' wedding. They've assigned a lowly guard to take his place - a man I know."_

_"You are suggesting you may be able to bribe this guard?" Amnosoro repeated._

_"Let's just say, we've done business in the past."_

_"That would take a lot of gold," Aida pointed out._

_"I have it," Mereb assured her. "For years I've been stealing from the palace. I thought maybe, someday, I could use it to get back to Nubia. But if I can send my King home..."_

_"We will all be going home soon, Mereb. Now, how are the docks guarded?"_

_"By the Captain's soldiers," Mereb admitted._

_"So the odds are slim," Amnosoro finished. "Can you use a sword, boy?"_

_"Me? Actually, I'm better at providing encouragement from the sidelines."_

_"A fight won't be necessary," Aida assured them, showing the amulet Radames had given her. "They'll let us through."_

_"Captain Radames gave you that?" Mereb asked._

_"Who is this Captain?" Amnosoro asked sharply. "An Egyptian?"_

_"Yes, but he's not like the others, father," Aida said, her tone begging him to understand._

_"He leads Pharaoh's army, and he did not lay waste to our country like the others?" Amnosoro wasn't budging an inch._

_"He regrets his past."_

_"Aida!" Amnosoro yelled, losing his patience. "Do not shame yourself and me with such witless sentiment. Do not tell me this Egyptian grieves for the Nubian men executed, the women ravaged, and the children taken into slavery. Any soft look you have given this Captain, any soft word, betrays the innocents who suffered at his hands and at the hands of every soldier he commands. You will cut this man from your heart."_

_"Yes, Father," she whispered, even as she felt her heart breaking inside of her._

_"__I would not have thought it possible that these Egyptians could give me one more reason to hate them," Amnosoro grumbled._

_Aida turned and ran out of the dungeon. Only when she was alone did she allow herself to express her feelings._

_"This is the moment when the gods expect me  
To beg for help, but I won't even try  
I want nothing in this world but myself to protect me  
And I won't lie down, roll over and die  
All I have to do is to forget how much I love him  
All I have to do is put my longing to one side  
Tell myself that love's an ever-changing situation  
Passion would have cooled and all the magic would have died  
It's easy, it's easy  
All I have to do is to pretend I never knew him  
On those very rare occasions when he steals into my heart  
Better to have lost him when the ties were barely binding  
Better the contempt of the familiar cannot start  
It's easy, It's easy  
Until I think about him as he was when I last touched him  
And how he would have been were I to be with him today  
Those very rare occasions don't let up, they keep on coming  
All I ever wanted, and I'm throwing it away  
It's easy, it's easy as life  
But then I saw the faces of a worn , defeated people  
A father and a nation who won't let a coward run  
Is this how the gods reward the faithful through the ages ?  
Forcing us to prove that all the hardest things we've done  
Are easy, so easy  
And though I'll think about him til the earth draws in around me  
And though I choose to leave him for another kind of love  
There is no denial, no betrayal but redemption  
Redeemed in my own eyes and in the pantheon above  
It's easy, it's easy as life  
It's easy as life."_

**I'm so sorry for the long delay. My life for the past month has been one big hectic mess. I'll try to update more frequently now.**


	12. Chapter Eleven: I Appreciate Too Well

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Eleven: I Appreciate Too Well**_

"Mother, please, listen to me. He hurt me, mother. He kept touching me, and then he took down his pants and made me touch him or he was going to kill me. Mother, help me, please!"

"Teresa Leanne Palmer, you will stop this screeching at once! I'm getting sick of all your complaining about Lucius."

"He said - he said you don't love me, and you didn't love father, and the only person you ever loved was him. That's not true, is it? Is it?"

"Well, now that you mention it," she said calmly, "I suppose it is."

"Mother!"

"All right, you want to know the truth? I married your father so no one would suspect that I'd ever been with Lucius. He wanted children; I gave him you, to fawn over instead of me, and then I told him I couldn't have anymore, and he believed me. That's the truth; deal with it."

"He loved you!"

"He was an idiot. All he was good for was flying around on that damn broomstick, waving to fans. I stood beside him and smiled and nodded and played the loving wife and he fell for it."

"Mother -"

"Get out of here. I don't want to hear any more of your whining."

Teresa turned and ran. She realized now that she was alone and the walls of her prison seemed to be closing in, suffocating her.

xxxxxxxxxx

"News?" Regulus asked eagerly.

"It's not good." Minerva shook her head solemnly. "We can't track Leanne Palmer; she's left her home and apparently disappeared."

"Probably to wherever Malfoy's hiding."

"We think so."

"I told the Auror office about this latest development," Sirius added, "but they're not optimistic. They haven't been able to track Malfoy, and if Palmer's with him, there's no reason to believe that it will be any easier to find her."

"I can't believe this," Regulus moaned. "If only we'd realized sooner that Leanne was the kidnapper-"

"We had no reason to suspect that," Severus pointed out. "Nobody suspected anything until we saw Teresa's letter."

"I'm glad she wrote that letter," Minerva added. "If nothing else, when school starts again we'll be able to talk to her - figure out where her mother and Malfoy are and get her out of there."

"Dammit, that's not good enough! Just waiting isn't good enough!"

"Reg," Sirius said calmly, "no one's giving up. We all want to find her, and we're doing everything we can, but there's only so much we can do."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I haven't been myself lately."

"And no one's blaming you for that. Just realize, we're doing everything we can."

xxxxxxxxxx

"And what happens next?" Julie demanded. "Who's going to be next, just because of your damn stubborn pride?"

"We've been over this!" Rose yelled back. "You're blaming her for something she has no control over. How many times did he hurt us before she even came? Or did you conveniently forget that part?"

"I've been trying to keep his attention on me," Estella whispered, "but it doesn't work. He's too smart."

"Don't you dare apologize! Do you have any idea what you've done for us? Your story and your talking about the magical world have been a godsend. They've given us hope when we had none before you came. She has no right to blame you for anything."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do!"

"Enough, both of you!" It was the first time Estella had ever raised her voice at any of the girls, but Rose and Julie's constant bickering was getting on her last nerve.

"Sorry." Rose appeared somewhat subdued. Julie on the other hand just folded her arms and sulked.

"Now, before anything else gets out of hand, how about a bit more of the story?" Estella was starting to worry. She wasn't going to be able to stretch the rest out more than another few days. But she'd promised a chapter a day and she intended to follow through.

_"But why did we invade Babylon?" Amneris asked as she and Zoser leaned over a map._

_"__Because once we have control of the waterways, the rest of the world opens up for us," he explained._

_She frowned. "Yes, but our Egyptian armies just stormed in and seized power? How oppressive of us."_

_"Perhaps, Princess. But where do you think that beautiful necklace came from?"_

_"Suddenly, it's not so beautiful." She removed the necklace and laid it on the table._

_"I've been explaining our campaigns to Amneris," Zoser told Radames, who had just walked in. "She wanted to know what's been preoccupying you of late."_

_"Radames, I feel like we haven't had a moment along since you returned from Nubia. I miss you. Can't we spend this afternoon together?"_

_"Of course," he said uncomfortably. "But first, I'd like to have a word with my father." He handed her a scroll. "Here, you can read this while you wait."_

_"'The Campaign at Kadesh.'"_

_"It'll give us something to talk about."_

_"I didn't realize we were at a loss for topics. But then there's a lot I haven't realized." She took the scroll and left._

_"That was clever of you," Radames acknowledged._

_"I can't have you neglecting the girl," Zoser snapped. "Not after all the trouble I've gone to."_

_"You arranged a marriage."_

_"There have been other arrangements as well, son. Things I've done on your behalf."_

_"I haven't asked you to do anything for me!"_

_"No, you're right, you haven't because you've been too busy whiling away the hours with that slave girl."_

_"Oh, your spies are good," Radames admitted._

_"Radames," Zoser sighed, "you can have your little diversion, just wait until after you've wed."_

_"Like you did?" Radames retorted._

_"Your mother never had any complaints!"_

_"She never had any choice!"_

_"Don't you realize she could cost you the throne?"_

_"I don't care about the throne, father. Because I'm not like you. And I never will be."_

_Zoser was furious. "Don't come on so cocksure boy, you can't escape your genes  
There's no point in feeling pure boy, your background intervenes  
Now listen good and listen straight, you're not the master of your fate  
To this you must be reconciled, you'll always be your father's child  
At times acclaimed, at times reviled  
You'll wind up doing just as I'd have done  
Like father, like son."_

_Radames' anger matched his father's. "Don't assume your vices get handed down the line  
That a parent's blood suffices to condemn the child's design  
I've done wrong, I can't deny, but at least I know that I  
I shouldn't blame that on my stock, well this may come as quite a shock  
But I'm no chip off any block, I wouldn't wish those words on anyone  
Like father, like son."_

_Zoser tried again. "Son you're nervous, take my hand  
All is settled, all is planned  
You've got the world at your command  
I don't think you understand.  
Do you really want to throw away your future? All for some wretched slave!"_

_"She has a name!"_

_"In a few months, you won't even be able to remember her name!"_

_Radames faced his father down. "I appreciate too well  
The squalor at which you excel  
it isn't very hard to tell  
Evil's a distinctive smell.  
You can forget about your plans, Father. There will be no wedding!"_

_He stormed off, leaving Zoser angrier than ever. "He's lost all sense of reason, and why?  
Some foreign slut!  
Not only is that treason,  
Some doors are slamming shut  
Just like me he's found that flesh  
Can excite but will enmesh  
Once we rid him of this blight.  
Once this harlot's out of sight.  
Then I think he'll see the light.  
He won't walk back to daddy, he will run.  
Like father, like son."_

_"Find the slave girl called Aida," he ordered his men. "And when you do, kill her."_

**This is another filler chapter - I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I promise more action in the next two chapters at least.**

**Any Star Trek fans, check out my Next Generation fic "Big Doors."**

**Speaking of which, said Star Trek fic got more than twice as many reviews for an 800-word opener than this entire story has had so far. Come on people, really? Review!  
**


	13. Chapter Twelve: I Thought I Knew You

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Twelve: I Thought I Knew You  
**_

Teresa stood with her ear pressed to the door. The voice, whatever it was, was explaining the finer points of Quidditch. This was nothing new to her - her father had played professionally, and this had resulted in her riding a broom before she could walk and being entirely immersed in the sport as early as she could remember - but it was somehow comforting. It was the only kind voice she had left.

She heard other voices now, children's voices. They were asking questions, which the first voice answered. Then she heard one of them ask something about Aida. She didn't know what that meant, but she'd heard the word in one of the songs that had led her to this place. The first voice agreed to something, and then began what Teresa realized must be a story of some sort.

_Aida stood in the Nubian camp, reading a letter that had been delivered to her. A letter from Radames. It was short, to the point._

_"I'm sorry for everything I've said  
And for anything I forgot to say too  
When things get so complicated  
I stumble at best, muddle through  
I wish that our lives could be simple  
I don't want the world, only you  
Oh I wish I could tell you this face to face  
But there's never the time, never the place  
So this letter will have to do  
I love you..."_

_Several Nubians ran up to Aida, who quickly hid the letter in her dress._

_"Tomorrow Princess, you and your father will be free!" Mereb declared excitedly._

_"We will live to tell our grandchildren of the King's great escape!" Nehebka squealed._

_"Nubia will prevail!" Mereb's cheer faded suddenly when he heard the footsteps of guards. "Quiet!"_

_The Nubians quickly surrounded Aida, making sure to hide her, as one guard spoke._

_"We are here for Aida," he said. "Which one is she?"_

_Aida was surrounded more tightly, and one man clamped his hand over her mouth to prevent her from identifying herself._

_Biting her lip, Nehebka stepped forward. "I am Aida."_

_Nehebka was dragged away. The Nubians did not allow Aida to remove herself from the group until they were well gone._

_"Forgive us, Princess," one said, "but you cannot be sacrificed. Every person here would risk their life for Nubia."_

_Dazed, Aida stumbled away. Mereb followed her. _

_"Where are you going?" he asked, and when he received no answer he drew the conclusion himself. "You're going to meet him, aren't you?"_

_"Mereb," she all but whispered, "I do not ask you to understand. __**I**__ do not understand. I must meet him-"_

_"No!" he cut her off._

_"But I do," she pleaded. "I have to see him-"_

_"No! No! You cannot give yourself to him. The Egyptians have taken enough from us already. You are our Princess, our inspiration, our promise of a new day."_

_"I'm sorry, Mereb." She turned and ran. He was left staring after her._

_"There is a time  
There is a place  
When love should conquer all  
The rest of life is pushed aside  
As truth and reason fall  
But only if that selfishness  
Can lead to something good  
I thought I knew you princess  
But I never understood  
I don't know you  
I don't know you."_

Teresa was confused; she realized that she was coming in the middle of the story. But at the same time she was intrigued. Who was this Aida, and why was this Mereb so mad that she was going to meet someone? Who was this Nehebka, who was willing to sacrifice herself in such a way? She wished she could ask, but she wasn't sure who or what the voice was, and she didn't dare take any chances.

xxxxxxxxxx

"We need to talk."

Severus turned and stared at his longtime rival. "We do?"

"Yes, we do. We've needed to talk for seven years."

"Since you came back from the dead."

"Exactly. Or to put it more precisely, since I came back from the dead and found out you were my niece's godfather."

"What are you getting at?"

"We can't keep fighting like this. It's not fair to Reg, it's not fair to Sarah, and it's especially not fair to the girls, who keep finding themselves stuck in the middle. It's hard to admit, but you're as much their uncle as I am. I'm not asking you to be my best friend or anything. Just - call it a truce. A permanent one."

Severus slowly extended a hand. "Fine. Permanent truce."

"And for the record, I don't think I ever really apologized for the Whomping Willow incident. I was acting stupid, I was angry, and frankly I don't know what I was thinking, but I know I reacted fast and almost got you and two of my friends killed. I know I'm a couple decades too late, but I really am sorry."

"Apology accepted." The response was short and curt, but it was genuine. "And also for the record, I apologize for taunting you while we were using this place as headquarters."

"I deserved it."

**Super-short, I know, but the next two are shaping up to be really long.**

**Please review. That's all I have to say.**


	14. Chapter Thirteen: A Little Too Far

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Thirteen: A Little Too Far**_

Estella wanted to cry as she looked at the faces of the other girls, so eager, so entranced by the story. She knew she would only be able to drag the story out another two days. What would they do once it was finished?

But she couldn't deny them that day's chapter. Deciding to cross that bridge when she came to it, she gave a small nod of assent.

_Radames stood beside the Nile, trying to fight back his grief. Hearing a footstep, he looked up and saw the one face he'd never expected to see again._

_"Aida!" He took her in his arms. "I thought you were..."_

_"__They came for me. But they took another. I blame myself.__"_

_"No," Radames protested. "I put you in danger. But I swear, it will never happen again. I'm calling off the wedding. I am going to build you a house on an island at the border of our countries. And we will sail the Nile."_

_"Oh, Radames -" She stopped short when she realized his plans would ruin the carefully-planned escape. "No! You can't. You can't call off the wedding!"_

_"Yes, I can. And I will."_

_"I love you, Radames. But you must marry the princess tomorrow. Tomorrow. What you want for us is impossible. They would hunt us down. It is a foolish plan."_

_"I will find a way for us to be together," he insisted._

_She just shook her head. "I am here to tell you we can never meet again  
Simple really, isn't it, a word or two and then  
A lifetime of not knowing where or how or why or when  
You think of me or speak of me and wonder what befell  
That someone you once loved so long ago so well  
Never wonder what I'll feel as living shuffles by  
You don't have to ask me and I need not reply  
Every moment of my life from now until I die  
I will think or dream of you and fail to understand  
How a perfect love can be confounded out of hand  
Is it written in the stars?  
Are we paying for some crime?  
Is that all that we are good for  
Just a stretch of mortal time?  
Or some God's experiment  
In which we have no say  
In which we're given paradise  
But only for a day ._

_"Marry the Princess, Radames," she pleaded. "You can help my people. This could be our chance to do something important. Don't you see? It may be the whole reason we met."_

_"Then it would be a cruel trick!"_

_"Not if the Gods put us together for some greater purpose," she replied.  
"Nothing can be altered, there is nothing to decide  
No escape, no change of heart, nor any place to hide  
You are all I'll ever want, but this I am denied  
Sometimes in my darkest thoughts, I wish I'd never learned  
What it is to be in love and have that love returned  
Is it written in the stars?  
Are we paying for some crime?  
Is that all that we are good for  
Just some stretch of mortal time?  
For some God's experiment  
In which we have no say  
In which we're given paradise  
But only for a day."_

_"I will do what you ask of me," Radames said finally. "But you must also do something for me. Go home, leave Egypt forever. While I am taking my wedding vows, there will be a boat waiting for you at the docks to return you to Nubia. At least I will have a message of happiness knowing you are free."_

_She nodded and they parted. Little did they know their discussion hadn't been as private as they had thought. Just out of sight, Amneris stood, shocked and heartbroken._

_"How did I come to this?  
How did I slip and fall?  
How did I throw half a lifetime away  
Without any thought at all?  
This should have been my time  
It's over, it never began  
I closed my eyes to so much for so long  
and I no longer can  
I try to blame it on fortune  
Some kind of shift in a star  
But I know the truth and it haunts me  
it's flown just a little too far  
I know the truth and it mocks me  
I know the truth and it shocks me  
It's flown just a little too far.  
Why do I want him still?  
Why when there's nothing there?  
How to go on with the rest of my life  
To pretend I don't care?  
This should've been my time  
It's over, it never began  
I closed my eyes to so much for so long  
and I no longer can  
I try to blame it on fortune  
Some kind of twist in my fate  
But I know the truth and it haunts me  
I learned it a little too late  
Oh I know the truth and it mocks me  
I know the truth and it shocks me  
I learned it a little too late  
Too late."_

_This was in her mind the next day as she stood before Radames. Her father pronounced them married, but all she could think was that he loved another woman._

_Suddenly a group of guards ran in. "Your Majesty, the King has escaped!"_

_"Radames, call your men to arms!" the Pharaoh ordered._

_"Fan out across the city!" Radames instructed his men._

_"The fastest route to Nubia is by water," Zoser pointed out. "Send a regiment to search the docks."_

_"No!" Radames suddenly remembered Aida. " Seal off the docks. No one must reach the pier before I arrive there." He hurried off to the docks._

_Mereb heard the chaos as well. "Princess, we must hurry. They've sounded the alarm."_

_"Radames!" Aida saw the Egyptian captain on the dock._

_"Aida," Amnosoro ordered, "undo the rope."_

_"Forgive me, father." She stepped off the boat. "I need one last moment with him."_

_"Daughter!" he called after her._

_Radames' eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. "Of course, you're the Nubian Princess. And you had me marry Amneris just so your king could escape. What a fool I am. It was all a lie. An act. Every word. Every kiss."_

_"No!" she insisted. "But I have made too many mistakes and too many people have suffered. I could not act selfishly now."_

_"So you lied to me?"_

_"Not when I said I love you. Say you believe me."_

_Before Radames could reply, Zoser came up behind him. "She's alive?"_

_"Stop there!" Mereb ran up to Zoser, brandishing a sword._

_"Aida, come!" Amnosoro called._

_"Mereb!" she screamed, seeing her friend cut down. She ran to his side, ignoring her father's attempts to get her attention._

_"Radames! For the love of Egypt, stop them!" Zoser shouted._

_Radames took Mereb's sword and brought it down on the rope that tied the boat to the pier. Zoser cried out in anger._

_"Radames!" he demanded. "What have you done?"_

_"It's all over, Father. When they come for me, they'll take you away too."_

_"What?" he sputtered. "No - that can't happen - Egypt needs me -"_

_"You're the one who tied our fates together," Radames sneered. "Like father, like son. I think you should run."_

_Zoser took his son's advice as Radames hurried to Aida and Mereb._

_"Radames," Aida whispered brokenly, "he's..."_

_"Forgive me, Princess," the dying man gasped. "I failed you."_

_"No...never! You, Mereb, inspired me."_

_"I wanted to go back to Nubia. Aida, take me home."_

_With those words, Mereb died. Radames gathered Aida into a comforting embrace as the guards surrounded them._

"Is that all for today?" Isabelle asked.

"I'm afraid it is. We -" she hesitated but could not lie. "We only have enough left for one more day."

The looks on the girls' faces all but devastated her. But a quiet voice spoke from the corner where Marissa lay, weak from the injuries they could not treat. "Then we can start another one. Don't you know any other stories?"

"You're right." Estella allowed a small smile. "Thank you for thinking of that. Of course I know other stories. I'll just have to come up with a good one."

"One with music?" asked Carrie.

"Of course."

xxxxxxxxxx

Teresa had listened to the whole story, but had found herself unable to concentrate after the second song. One line kept running through her head.

_I know the truth..._

_I know the truth..._

Whoever this Amneris was, Teresa knew exactly how she felt.

The girl stood and slipped away. She risked being caught the longer she stayed here. Seeing a guard on the stairs she usually took, she tiptoed along the hall until she found another set and climbed up them silently. They took her to a location that was unfamiliar.

She continued to walk as silently as possible, trying to figure out where she was. She was stopped short from a familiar voice behind a closed door. Her mother's voice.

"...keep her quiet," Leanne was saying.

"You're worried about her?"

"She's fighting me, Lucius. One word to someone at school and she could get you put right back in Azkaban."

"What do you suggest we do? Memory charm?"

"Someone might notice if she didn't remember anything about her break. I think we have two options. First, we can try to convince her to keep her mouth shut. If that doesn't work, I could arrange a tragic accident."

"You could do that without raising suspicion?"

"I did it once, didn't I? It was so easy, my dear husband was always up on that broom. All I had to do was wait until the little brat was looking the wrong way and get him with a stunner, and oh, what a tragedy, he fell off his broom and died when he hit the ground."

Teresa thought she'd forgotten how to breathe. Her mother had not only felt no love for her father, she'd been directly responsible for his death. And now she was going to kill Teresa too.

There was only one thing left. She had to get out. Now.

Forgetting all attempts to be quiet, she sprinted down the hall. Finally seeing a tapestry she recognized, she was able to figure out where she was.

The closest available fireplace was the sitting room, a level below. She hurried down another set of stairs and into the room, pulling the door shut behind her. She grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder from the box on the mantlepiece and threw it into the fire.

"Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place!" It was her last hope. As she stepped into the fire, one phrase, four words, seemed to dominate her thoughts.

_I know the truth..._

xxxxxxxxxx

"Doesn't anyone know how to put things back in order?" Hermione grumbled as she reorganized the vast piles of papers they'd been studying for the past few weeks. "Honestly."

"Perhaps now you understand why it is so difficult to be a professor," Severus commented dryly. "Many students' essays are organized about as well as this room."

Hermione was about to reply when she caught a flare of green from the fireplace. "What the -"

A girl, red-eyed and crying, tumbled into the room. Severus jumped to his feet in shock. "Teresa Palmer? What in the world are you doing here?"

"My mother -" she was crying so hard she could hardly talk. "She's going to kill me."

"Slow down. What happened? Start at the beginning."

"She had a friend - but he was her boyfriend - and I saw him in the paper, he's supposed to be in Azkaban."

"Malfoy." Severus nodded. Hermione had been right.

"He kept doing things-" she broke down completely, unable to go on. Severus laid a calming hand on her shoulder.

"Talk to me. What things?"

"Touching me, looking at me when I wasn't wearing any clothes. And I tried to tell mother and she didn't believe me, and Malfoy said that she didn't love me and she didn't love my dad and she only loved him and she said it was true and then I heard them talking and mother said that I could get him back in Azkaban and that if I wouldn't stay quiet she'd have to kill me and she knew she could do it because she killed my dad and so I ran and I came here because Katie and Lydia said this was their address and I thought maybe they would help me." Once she started talking, the entire story tumbled out amidst a flood of tears.

"Teresa, look at me. This is important. Could you tell me, or someone else, where Malfoy is now?"

"Yes."

"Hermione, call the Auror Department. Tell them we've got a location for Malfoy."

**I promised a longer chapter, didn't I?**

**Review! There's only two more chapters left! Come on!**


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Give Me Courage

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Chapter Fourteen: Give Me Courage**_

"All right," Estella said, "let's finish this up."

_Radames and Aida stood in the courtroom, chained. Aida was dragged away as Amneris approached Radames._

_"Amneris," he whispered, "I never meant to hurt you."_

_"__Radames," she said urgently, "if you deny everything there is a chance. My father might spare your life. Listen to me, they want to bury you alive."_

_"Yes, that's what we do to traitors."_

_"You must deny everything..."_

_"No, I can't. Aida is everything I thought I was meant to be. But her courage and her love for her people have put me to shame. Every act of my life has been wrong, except for this."_

_"Did you ever love me at all?" Her eyes filled with tears._

_"Amneris." He gently touched her face. "I've loved you all my life."_

_Amneris hurried over to a guard who was manhandling Aida. "Get your hands off her! After all, she is a Princess."_

_"Amneris, there were so many times I wanted to tell you everything, but I couldn't."_

_Amneris smiled sadly. "No wonder you understood me so well."_

_"Amneris, you must believe me," she pleaded. "I am to blame for what has happened. Not Radames. Please, let him live. Amneris, let him live."_

_"Yes, you can. You love him. Don't you love him?"_

_"Amneris, let us begin. Bring forth the prisoners." He turned to her. "Zoser has been apprehended, and we have uncovered his plot. Radames, I chose you. I trusted your father. Now, I will make things right while I still can. The criminals will receive their sentences!"_

_"Father," Amneris interrupted, "I have a request."_

_"A request?"_

_"I know the traitors must die for crimes against Egypt. This is the law. But I would ask...that the prisoners be allowed to die together."_

_"But that would be mercy - after they disgraced you before the entire nation."_

_"I was wronged. It should be my decision."_

_"You don't know your own mind," he said dismissively. "For their crimes -"_

_"Your Majesty," Amneris interrupted, "you have poison in your blood. We both know this. Soon I will be completely alone, because everyone I love will be gone. So you must allow me to exercise my will over Egypt. Because I am to be your successor. And because I demand it."_

_Pharaoh studied her for a long moment. Finally, he nodded._

_"For their crimes, the traitors will be buried beneath the sands of Egypt, in one tomb, together. The Daughter of Isis has spoken."_

_Aida and Radames stood before their tomb. Slowly, Aida turned to Radames._

_"We all lead such elaborate lives  
wild ambitions in our sights  
How an affair of the heart survives  
days apart and hurried nights  
Seems quite unbelievable to me  
I don't want to live like that  
Seems quite unbelievable to me  
I don't want to love like that  
I just want our time to be  
Slower and gentler, wiser, free  
We all live in extravagant times  
Playing games we can't all win  
Unintened emotional crimes  
Take some out, take others in  
__Too many choices tear us apart  
I don't want to live like that  
Too many choices tear us apart  
I don't want to love like that  
I just want to keep your heart  
May this confession  
Be the start.  
I know you'll give me courage  
To face what I must face  
With all these complications  
In another __time and place.  
We all lead such elaborate lives  
We don't know whose words are true  
An affair of the heart survives  
All the pain this world can do  
__I'm so tired of all we're going through  
I don't want to live like that  
I'm so tired of all we're going through  
I don't want to love like that  
I just want to be with you  
Now and forever, peaceful, true."_

_The guards pulled them apart, forced them into the tomb, and closed the doors over them. Aida shivered._

_"It's so dark."_

_"Give me your hand," he said soothingly. "I'm right here with you. There is another world waiting for us, Aida. I can feel it. The way I always knew there was a world beyond every bend in the Nile. Just waiting to be discovered."_

_"You'll find me there?"_

_"If I have to search for a hundred lifetimes, I will find you again, Aida."_

_"There'll be no ties of time and space to bind us  
And no horizon we could not pursue  
We'll leave the world's misfortunes far behind us  
And I will put my faith and trust in you."_

_They lay in each other's arms, resigned to their fate. But one person would not let their sacrifice be in vain. Amneris, Pharaoh of Egypt, knew something had to be done._

_"From deep within the tomb  
__A gentle light still shone  
Showing me my path  
As I ascended to the throne  
Certain in my heart  
That ancient wars must cease  
The lovers' death gave birth  
To a reign of peace  
And their story  
And my journey  
And the lesson they provide  
Draw their strength and inspiration  
From a love that never died."_

_In the modern museum, the man and woman who had been strangely drawn to the exhibit now found themselves strangely drawn to each other. Memories rushed back. They were Radames and Aida, in new bodies but unmistakably Radames and Aida, now finally able to be together._

"Awww, that's so sweet!" Rose squealed.

The door banged open. A guard stepped in.

"You, you, and you." He indicated Estella, Isabelle, and Hannah. "Come with me."

A series of loud cracks filled the air. The guard turned suddenly. "What the -?"

Estella seized the moment of his distraction. She leaped at him, and both of them fell to the ground. They scuffled for a moment before he threw her off, dumping her onto the ground. But her gamble had paid off. While he had been busy trying to push her off, she had slipped the wand from his back pocket.

"All right, come along, and no more trouble."

"I don't think so." Estella raised the captured wand. "_Petrificus Totalus_!"

The man's arms snapped to his sides and he fell to the floor, stiff as a board.

"Come on, everyone. Let's get out of here."

"And go where?" Julie asked snidely. "We don't even know where we are."

"Those cracking sounds we heard? That was the sounds of dozens of people Apparating in - disappearing from wherever they were and appearing here. My guess is that they're Aurors - wizard police - here to get Malfoy, which means they're on our side. If we can get to them, they'll help us."

"What if they're not?" Carrie asked quietly.

"Ten to one they are. And I'd rather take that chance than stay here."

"What do we do?" Rose asked.

"We get out of here, run up the stairs, and head for outside. Rose, I want you to lead the group. Hannah, bring up the rear. Make sure no one falls behind. Everyone else, stay between Rose and Hannah. Move fast and stick close together. I'll be running back and forth to cover you. Everyone got it?"

They all nodded.

"Wait!" Isabelle yelled suddenly. "What about Marissa?"

"Oh, Merlin," Estella sighed. Isabelle was right. Marissa's condition was only getting worse, and she wouldn't be able to walk, let alone run.

To everyone's surprise, Julie knelt down beside Marissa and swung the injured child onto her back. "Well," she said at the shocked expressions, "I can't let Ellie take all the credit."

"All right. Now let's go."

They ran out into the hall and up the stairs, sticking close together as Estella had instructed. Everything was a bit of a gamble, since they didn't actually know where they were, but they also knew it was their only chance for freedom.

xxxxxxxxxx

"About time." Sirius shot another hex at the house's doors, which were beginning to weaken.

"You're sure eager for this one, Black," one of his fellow Aurors commented.

"I've got a personal score to settle with Malfoy. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to see him punished last time, so I want to make this one good." The door fell with a crash. "We're in."

The Aurors rushed in through the now-clear doorway.

"Spread out and look around," the Head Auror ordered.

They did. One Auror rushed into a hall, only to be nearly run over by a group headed the other way. The apparent leader skidded to a halt, as did everyone behind her.

"And where were you going in such a hurry?" he asked.

"I - we -" the leader said nervously.

"It's all right." This voice came from the back of the group. A blonde girl stepped away from the group and addressed him. "My name is Estella Black. My companions and I are - I should say were - prisoners of Lucius Malfoy. We were just recently able to escape from the cell in which he held us."

"Estella Black? Kidnapped from Hogwarts?"

"That's right."

"We can check that easily enough." He turned and called over his shoulder. "Black! _Black!_ Get over here!"

Sirius didn't hear immediately, but several other Aurors did and repeated the call until he finally got the message and ran over. "What's going - Ellie?" He stopped short when he saw her. "It's really you." He reached out slowly and touched her shoulder as if she might disappear. "You're all right," he whispered, pulling her into his arms. "You're all right."

She clung to him tightly - as tightly as her father once had, so many years ago. Sirius' heart nearly broke; he knew now that his brother's worst fears had been realized.

"Uncle Sirius." She finally forced herself to pull away. "I - we - need to get out of here. One of the girls is hurt."

"Let me see." He took Marissa from Julie and laid her on the floor, unwrapping the robe to get a better look. "What the hell? Ellie, when did this happen? It's important."

"I don't know, I don't remember." She shook her head helplessly.

"He told her he loved her," Isabelle spoke up.

"What?" Sirius asked, completely confused.

"The day the guard took Marissa away, Radames told Aida he loved her."

"Yes!" Estella's eyes lit up. "Yes, that's right. So the day after that the king got captured -"

"Then the day after that she saw him and he told her to stop meeting Radames!" Rose joined in.

"The day after that Zoser tried to have Aida killed -"

"And the day after that Aida's friend gave herself up and then she went to see Radames and Mereb got mad -"

"Then the day after that Amneris heard them talking -"

"And then the last day - today - they found each other again!"

"Six days ago, not counting today," Estella told an utterly bemused Sirius.

"That's what I thought. The seventeenth."

"Then that makes today - the twenty-fourth?" Rose finished. "It's Christmas Eve."

"Yep." Sirius gently hoisted Marissa into his arms. "Come on, I'm getting you girls out of here."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Most of you have no lasting physical damage," the Healer reported. "The werewolf -"

"Werewolf?" Rose interrupted.

"Of course!" Estella's eyes lit with sudden realization. "That's why he wanted the date."

"Marissa was attacked by a werewolf?" Hannah gasped.

"In a manner of speaking. Marissa _is_ a werewolf. If an uncontrolled werewolf -"

"Uncontrolled?" Hannah asked.

"There's a potion werewolves can take that allows them to keep their own mind, even if their bodies undergo the transformation. But as I was saying, if an uncontrolled werewolf is left alone, he or she will bite and scratch him- or herself, causing the injures we've been seeing on Marissa."

"So we've been sharing that cell with a werewolf? I carried a werewolf on my back?"

"It's hardly her fault!" Estella shouted angrily. "And she's the one who suffered for it."

"She's still my friend, I don't care what she is!" Isabelle spoke up suddenly.

"I can see I've been overruled," Julie said stiffly.

xxxxxxxxxx

Regulus jumped when he heard someone Apparate in behind him. He turned. "Sirius?"

"We found her. She's okay."

Regulus let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding for two weeks. "Thank Merlin. So it was Malfoy, like I thought?"

"Yes and no. It _was_ Malfoy, but it wasn't to get back at you. Apparently, she's biologically his daughter. His and Leanne Palmer's."

Regulus stammered for a few seconds. "You're sure?" he finally asked.

"Yes. Once she told us what Malfoy had claimed, the hospital ran tests. It's true. She refuses to accept him though. She keeps saying that you and Sarah are her parents, and blood doesn't matter."

"I'm sure he wasn't happy to hear that."

Sirius shook his head sadly. "He resorted to several methods of trying to get her to accept him."

Regulus understood. "Where is she?"

"St. Mungo's. You go. I'll get Sarah and bring her."

"Apparate into her office - it's got sound-block charms on it."

"I know. Go ahead."

Regulus quickly spun on the spot to Disapparate, appearing in the lobby of St. Mungo's and hurrying up to the welcome desk. He waited impatiently on line until finally it was his turn.

"I'm here to see Estella Black."

"First floor, left turn, second door on the right."

"Thank you." He turned and sprinted up the steps, finding the correct door and flinging it open. About five girls were sitting on a bed that contained another girl. All their heads turned in unison, and Estella jumped to her feet.

"Dad!" She threw herself at him. "Dad, dad."

He wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I'm here, baby, I'm here." Tears were running down his face, but he didn't care. "Let's go home."

"Just a second." She turned back to her friends. "Goodbye, all of you."

Isabelle reached up from the bed and wrapped her arms around Estella's neck. The two other young girls joined the embrace. Soft whispers of "thank you" came from the group, and from the girl lying on the bed.

Estella then approached Julie, the only one of the older girls left. "Well," she said uncomfortably, "I guess this is goodbye."

"Uh-huh. You're not so bad, you know."

Estella cracked a small smile. She extended her hand and Julie took it. No more words were spoken.

Estella then turned back to her father. "Yes. Let's go home."

**Well, this is it except for the epilogue. I'll probably have that up in the next few days.**

**Please review. This story's over 30,000 words long and yet I've only had four reviews - two of which were by the same author! Please, I'd at least like to hit a round 5 before this is over.**


	16. Epilogue

**We Have to Keep Believing**

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, it's not mine

Any text in italics is Estella's rendition of Aida.

_**Epilogue**_

"Are you absolutely sure?" Regulus asked as he hoisted his daughter's trunk onto the train. "No one's going to blame you if you want to take a few weeks before you go back to school."

"I'm sure." Estella's eyes met her father's. "I'm not going to let him ruin my life."

Regulus nodded slowly. "I love you."

She stepped into her father's arms and they embraced for a long moment.

"Take care of yourself, baby."

"I love you too, Dad."

Regulus stepped off the train. He half wanted to insist that she take a few weeks off, but he knew from his own experience that she needed to handle her experience in her own way.

"Ellie! Ellie!"

"Rose? Hannah?"

They were beaming. "Our parents sort of changed their minds after what happened last month. So they talked to the Headmistress and she said we could still come as long as we started at first year. And we can take the test to become second years anytime, as soon as we're ready."

Estella started grinning as broadly as they were. "Well, come on in."

They dragged their luggage in. "So now we'll get to see everything you told us about."

"You bet." The train started to move. "And we're off!"

**The End.**

**Reviews are still appreciated, even if I'm not still updating. Thanks to I'S Watcher, SkynyrdKidd, and death wish girl (twice over) for reviewing so far!**


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